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/• 









HIE 


CHOICE WORKS OF COOPER. 


EEYISED AND COEEECTED SEEIES. 

WITH 

NEW INTRODUCTIONS, NOTES, ETC. 


VOL. YI. 


THE PRAIRIE. 




ij) 









•- 





T7 

S 

























THE PRAIRIE; 


A TALE. 


BY 

j; FENIMORE COOPER. 


“ Mark his condition and the event : then 
Tell me if this be a brother.” 

Tempest. 


* * * 
\ * 


COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME. 

WITH THE LATEST REVISION AND CORRECTIONS OF THE AUTHOR. 


NEW YORK: 

STRINGER & TOWNSEND. 

1 85 6 . 




TZs 


■ C HU 

Ta- 

io 


Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 
STEIN GER & TOWNSEND, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern 

District of New York. 


• k 

*, 2 

•} r } 
< f t' 


R. C. Valentine, Stereotyper. 



INTRODUCTION. 


Tiie geological formation of that portion of the Ame- 
rican Union, which lies between the Alleghanies and 
the Rocky Mountains, has given rise to many ingeni- 
ous theories. Virtually, the whole of this immense 
region is a plain. For a distance extending nearly 
1500 miles east and west, and 600 north and south, 
there is scarcely an elevation worthy to be called a 
mountain. Even hills are not common ; though a 
good deal of the face of the country has more or less 
of that “ rolling ” character, which is described in the 
opening pages of this work. 

There is much reason to believe, that the territory 
which now composes Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, 
and a large portion of the country west of the Missis- 
sippi, lay f6rmerly under water. The soil of all the 
former states has the appearance of an alluvial deposit ; 
and isolated rocks have been found, of a nature and in 
situations which render it difficult to refute the opinion 
that they have been transferred to their present beds 
by floating ice. This theory assumes that the Great 
Lakes were the deep pools of one immense body of 
fresh water, which lay too low to be drained by the 
irruption that laid bare the land. 

It will be remembered that the French, when mas- 


VI 


INTRODUCTION. 


ters of the Canadas and Louisiana, claimed the whole 
of the territory in question. Their hunters and 
advanced troops held the first communications with 
the savage occupants, and the earliest written accounts 
we possess of these vast regions are from the pens of 
their missionaries. Many French words have, conse- 
quently, become of local use in this quarter of America, 
and not a few names given in that language have been 
perpetuated. When the adventurers, who first pene- 
trated these wilds, met, in the centre of the forests, 
immense plains covered with rich verdure or rank 
grasses, they naturally gave them the appellation of 
meadows. As the English succeeded the French, and 
found a peculiarity of nature differing from all they 
had yet seen on the continent, already distinguished 
by a word that did not express anything in their own 
language, they left these natural meadows in possession 
of their title of convention. In this manner has the 
word “ Prairie” been adopted into the English tongue. 

The American prairies are of two kinds. Those 
which lie east of the Mississippi are comparatively 
small, are exceedingly fertile, and are always sur- 
rounded by forests. They are susceptible of high 
cultivation, and are fast becoming settled. They 
abound in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana. 
They labor under the disadvantages of a scarcity 
of wood and water, — evils of a serious character, 
until art has had time to supply the deficiencies of 
nature. As coal is said to abound in all that region, 
and wells are generally successful, the enterprise of 
the emigrants is gradually prevailing against these 
difficulties. 

The second description of these natural meadows 
lies Vest of the Mississippi, at a distance of a few 


INTRODUCTION. 


vii 


hundred miles from that river, and is called the Great 
Prairies. They resemble the steppes of Tartary more 
than any other known portion of the world ; being, 
in fact, a vast country, incapable of sustaining a dense 
population, in the absence of the two great necessaries 
already named. Rivers abound, it is true ; but this 
region is nearly destitute of brooks and the smaller 
water courses, which tend so much to comfort and 
fertility. 

The origin and date of the Great American Prairies 
form one of nature’s most majestic mysteries. The 
general character of the United States, of the Canadas, 
and of Mexico, is that of luxuriant fertility. It would 
be difficult to find another portion of the world, of the 
same extent, which has so little useless land as the 
inhabited parts of the American Union. Most of the 
mountains are arable ; and even the prairies, in this 
section of the republic, are of deep alluvian. The 
same is true between the Rocky Mountains and the 
Pacific. Between the two lies the broad belt of com- 
parative desert, which is the scene of this tale, appear- 
ing to interpose a barrier to the progress of the 
American people westward. Since the original pub- 
lication of this book, however, the boundaries of the 
republic have been carried to the Pacific, and the 
“ settler,” preceded by the “ trapper,” has already 
established himself on the shores of that vast sea. 

The Great Prairies appear to be the final gathering- 
place of the red men. The remnants of the Mohicans 
and the Delawares, of the Creeks, Choctaws, and 
Cherokees, are destined to fulfil their time on these 
vast plains. The entire number of the Indians within 
the Union is differently computed, at between one and 
five hundred thousand souls. Most of them inhabit 


INTRODUCTION. 


viii 

the country west of the Mississippi. At the period of 
the tale, they dwelt in open hostility; national feuds 
passing from generation to generation. The power of 
the republic has done much to restore peace to these 
wild scenes, and it is now possible to travel in security, 
where civilized man did not dare to pass unprotected 
five-and-twenty years ago. 

Recent events have brought the Grand Prairies into 
familiar notice, and we now read of journeys across 
them as, half a century since, we perused the narra- 
tives of the emigrants to Ohio and Louisiana. It is 
a singular commentary on the times that places for 
railroads across these vast plains are in active discus- 
sion, and that men have ceased to regard the project 
as chimerical. 

This book closes the career of Leather-stocking. 
Pressed upon by time, he has ceased to be the hunter 
and the warrior, and has become a trapper of the great 
West. The sound of the axe has driven him from his 
beloved forests to seek a refuge, by a species of des- 
perate resignation, on the denuded plains that stretch 
to the Rocky Mountains. Here he passes the few 
closing years of his life, dying as he had lived, a philo- 
sopher of the wilderness, with few of the failings, none 
of the vices, and all the nature and truth of his posi- 
tion. 


THE 


PRAIRIE. 


CHAPTER I. 

“ I pray thee, shepherd, if that love, or gold, 

Can in this desert place buy entertainment, 

Bring us where we may rest ourselves and feed.” 

As vou LIKE IT. 

Much was said and written, at«the time, concerning the policy 
of adding the vast regions of Louisiana, to the already immense 
and but half-tenanted territories of the United States. As the 
warmth of controversy, however, subsided, and party considera- 
tions gave place to more liberal views, the wisdom of the measure 
began to be generally conceded. It soon became apparent to 
the meanest capacity, that while nature had placed a barrier 
of desert to the extension of our population in the west, the 
measure had made us the masters of a belt of fertile country, 
which, in the revolutions of the day, might have become the 
property of a rival nation. It gave us the sole command of the 
great thoroughfare of the interior, 'and placed the countless tribes 
of savages, who lay along our borders, entirely within our 
control ; it reconciled conflicting rights, and quieted national 
distrusts ; it opened a thousand avenues to the inland trade, and 
to the waters of the Pacific ; and, if ever time or necessity shall 
require a peaceful division of this vast empire, it assures us of a 
neighbor that will possess our language, our religion, our institu* 
tions, and it is also to be hoped, our sense of political justice. 

1 * 


10 


THE PRAIRIE. 


Although the purchase was made in 1803, the spring of the 
succeeding year was permitted to open, before the official pru- 
dence of the Spaniard, who held the province for his European 
master, admitted the authority, or even the entrance of its 
new proprietors. But the forms of the transfer were no sooner 
completed, and the new government acknowledged, than swarms 
of that restless people which is ever found hovering on the skirts 
of American society, plunged into the thickets that fringed the 
right bank of the Mississippi, with the same careless hardihood 
that had already sustained so many of them in their toilsome 
progress from the Atlantic states, to the eastern shores of the 
“ father of rivers.”* 

Time was necessary to blend the numerous and affluent 
colonists of the lower province with their new compatriots : but 
the thinner and more humble population above, was almost 
immediately swallowed in the vortex which attended the tide of 
instant emigration. The inroad from the east was a new and 
sudden outbreaking of a people, who had endured a momen- 
tary restraint, after having been rendered nearly resistless by 
success. The toils and hazards of former undertakings were 
forgotten, as these endless and unexplored regions, with all their 
fancied as well as real advantages, were laid open to their enter- 
prise. The consequences were such as might easily have been 
anticipated, from so tempting an offering, placed, as it was, 
before the eyes of a race long trained in adventure, and nurtured 
in difficulties. 

Thousands of the elders, of what were then called the New 
States,! broke up from the enjoyment of their hard-earned indul- 
gences, and were to be seen leading long files of descendants, 
born and reared in the forests of Ohio and Kentucky, deeper 


* The Mississippi is thus termed in several of the Indian languages. The reader 
will gain a more just idea of the importance of this stream, if he recalls to mind the 
faci, that the Missouri and the Mississippi are properly the same river. Their united 
lengths cannot be greatly short of four thousand miles 
t AH the states admitted to the American Union, since the revolution, are called 
New States, with the exception of Vermont ; that had claims before the war, which 
were not, however, admitted until a later day. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


11 


into the land, in quest of that which might be termed, without 
the aid of poetry, their natural and more congenial atmosphere. 
The distinguished and resolute forester who first penetrated the 
wilds of the latter state, was of the number. This adventurous 
and venerable patriarch was now seen making his last remove ; 
placing the endless river between him and the multitude his 
own success had drawn around him, and seeking for the renewal 
of enjoyments which were rendered worthless in his eyes, when 
trammelled by the forms of human institutions.* 

In the pursuit of adventures such as these, men are ordinarily 
governed by their habits or deluded by their wishes. A few, led 
by the phantoms of hope and ambitious of sudden affluence, 
sought the mines of the virgin territory ; but by far the greater 
portion of the emigrants were satisfied to establish themselves 
along the margins of the larger water-courses, content with the 
rich returns that the generous, alluvial bottoms of the rivers 
never fail to bestow on the most desultory industry. In this 
manner were communities formed with magical rapidity ; and 
most of those who witnessed the purchase of the empty empire, 
have lived to see already a populous and sovereign state, parcelled 
from its inhabitants, and received into the bosom of the national 
Union on terms of political equality. 

The incidents and scenes which are connected with this legend 
occurred in the earliest periods of the enterprises which have led 
to so great and so speedy a result. 

The harvest of the first year of our possession had long been 
passed, and the fading foliage of a few scattered trees was already 
beginning to exhibit the hues and tints of Autumn, when a train 
of wagons issued from the bed of a dry rivulet, to pursue its 
course across the undulating surface, of what, in the language 
of the country of which we write, is called a “ rolling prairie.” 
The vehicles, loaded with household goods and implements of 
husbandry, the few straggling sheep and cattle that were herded 

* Colonel Boon, the patriarch of Kentucky. This venerable and hardy pioneer of 
civilization emigrated to an estate three hundred miles west of the Mississippi, in 
his ninety second year, because he found a population of ten to the square mile, 
inconveniently crowded ! 


12 


THE PRAIRIE. 


in the rear, and the rugged appearance and careless mien of the 
sturdy men who loitered at the sides of the lingering teams ; 
united to announce a hand of emigrants seeking for the Eldorado 
of the West. Contrary to the usual practice of the men of their 
caste, this party had left the fertile bottoms of the low country, 
and had found its way, by means only known to such adventurers, 
across glen and torrent, over deep morasses and arid wastes, to 
a point far beyond the usual limits of civilized habitations. In 
their front were stretched those broad plains, which extend, with 
so little diversity of character, to the bases of the Rocky Moun- 
tains ; and many long and dreary miles in their rear, foamed the 
swift and turbid waters of La Platte. 

The appearance of such a train in that bleak and solitary place 
was rendered the more remarkable by the fact, that the surround- 
ing country offered so little that was tempting to the cupidity 
of speculation, and, if possible, still less that was flattering to the 
hopes of an ordinary settler of new lands. 

The meagre herbage of the prairie promised nothing in favor 
of a hard and unyielding soil, over which the wheels of the 
vehicles rattled as lightly as if they travelled on a beaten road ; 
neither wagons nor beasts making any deeper impression than 
to mark that bruised and withered grass, which the cattle 
plucked from time to time, and as often rejected, as food too 
sour for even hunger to render palatable. 

Whatever might be the final destination of these adventurers, 
or the secret causes of their apparent security in so remote and 
unprotected a situation, there was no visible sign of uneasiness, 
uncertainty, or alarm, among them. Including both sexes, and 
every age, the number of the party exceeded twenty. 

At some little distance in front of the whole, marched the 
individual, who, by his position and air, appeared to be the 
leader of the band. He was a tall, sun-burnt man, past the 
middle age, of a dull countenance and listless manner. His 
frame appeared loose and flexible ; but it was vast, and in reality 
of prodigious power. It was only at moments, however, as 
some slight impediment opposed itself to his loitering progress, 


THE PRAIRIE. 


13 


that his person, which, in its ordinary gait seemed so lounging 
and nerveless, displayed any of those energies which lay latent 
in his system, like the slumbering and unwieldy, but terrible ; 
strength of the elephant. The inferior lineaments of his counte- 
nance were coarse, extended, and vacant ; while the superior, or 
those nobler parts which are thought to affect the intellectual 
being, were low, receding, and mean. 

The dress of this individual was a mixture of the coarsest 
vestments of a husbandman, with the leathern garments that 
fashion as well as use, had in some degree rendered neces- 
sary to one engaged in his present pursuits. There was, how- 
ever, a singular and wild display of prodigal and ill judged 
ornaments, blended with his motley attire. In place of the 
usual deer-skin belt, he wore around his body a tarnished silken 
sash of the most gaudy colors ; the buckhorn haft of his knife 
was profusely decorated with plates of silver ; the marten’s fur 
of his cap was of a fineness and shadowing that a queen might 
covet ; the buttons of his rude and soiled blanket-coat were of 
the glittering coinage of Mexico ; the stock of his rifle was of 
beautiful mahogany, riveted and banded with the same precious 
metal ; and the trinkets of no less than three worthless watches 
dangled from different parts of his person. In addition to the 
pack and the rifle which were slung at his back, together with 
the well filled, and carefully guarded pouch and horn, he had 
carelessly cast a keen and bright wood-axe across his shoulder, 
sustaining the weight of the whole with as much apparent ease 
as if he moved unfettered in limb, and free from incumbrance. 

A short distance in the rear of this man, came a group of 
youths very similarly attired, and bearing sufficient resemblance 
to each other, and to their leader, to distinguish them as the 
children of one family. Though the youngest of their number 
could not much have passed the period, that, in the nicer judg- 
ment of the law, is called the age of discretion, he had proved 
himself so far worthy of his progenitors as to have reared 
already his aspiring person to the standard height of his race, 
There were one or two others, of different mould, whose descrip- 


14 


THE PRAIRIE. 


tions must, however, be referred to the regular course of the 
narrative. 

Of the females, there were but two who had arrived at 
womanhood; though several white-headed, olive-skinned faces 
were peering out of the foremost wagon of the train, with eyes 
of lively curiosity and characteristic animation. The elder of 
the two adults was the sallow and wrinkled mother of most of 
the party, and the younger was a sprightly, active girl of 
eighteen, who in figure, dress, and mien, seemed to belong to a 
station in society several gradations above that of any one of . 
her visible associates. The second vehicle was covered with a 
top of cloth so tightly drawn, as to conceal its contents with the 
nicest care. The remaining wagons were loaded with such 
rude furniture and other personal effects, as might be supposed 
to belong to one ready at any moment to change his abode, 
without reference to season or distance. 

Perhaps there was little in this train, or in the appearance 
of its proprietors, that is not daily to be encountered on the 
highways of this changeable and moving country. But the 
solitary and peculiar scenery, in which it was so unexpectedly 
exhibited, gave to the party a marked character of wildness and 
adventure. 

In the little valleys, which, in the regular formation of the 
land, occurred at every mile of their progress, the view was 
bounded on two. of the sides by the gradual and low elevations 
which give name to the description of prairie we have mentioned ; 
while on the others, the meagre prospect ran off in long, narrow, 
barren perspectives, but slightly relieved by a pitiful show of 
coarse, though somewhat luxuriant vegetation. From the 
summits of the swells, the eye became fatigued with the same- 
ness and chilling dreariness of the landscape. The earth was 
not unlike the ocean, when its restless waters are heaving 
heavily, after the agitation and fury of the tempest have begun 
to lessen. There was the same waving and regular surface, the 
same absence of foreign objects, and the same boundless extent 
to the view. Indeed so very striking was the resemblance 


THE PRAIRIE. 


15 


between the water and the land, that, however much the geolo- 
gist might sneer at so simple a theory, it would have been 
difficult for a poet not to have felt, that the formation of the 
one had been produced by the subsiding dominion of the other. 
Here and there a tall tree rose out of the bottoms, stretching 
its naked branches abroad, like some solitary vessel ; and, to 
strengthen the delusion, far in the distance appeared two or 
three rounded thickets, looming in the misty horizon like 
islands resting on the waters. It is unnecessary to warn the 
practised reader, that the sameness of the surface, and the low 
stands of the spectators, exaggerated the distances ; but, as 
swell appeared after swell, and island succeeded island, there 
was a disheartening assurance that long and seemingly inter- 
minable tracts of territory must be passed, before the wishes of 
the humblest agriculturist could be realized. 

Still, the leader of the emigrants steadily pursued his way, 
with no other guide than the sun, turning his back resolutely 
on the abodes of civilization, <#nd plunging at each step more 
deeply, if not irretrievably into the haunts of the barbarous and 
savage occupants of the country. As the day drew nigher to a 
close, however, his mind, which was, perhaps, incapable of 
maturing any connected system of forethought, beyond that 
which related to the interests of the present moment, became 
in some slight degree troubled with the care of providing for 
the wants t>f the hours of darkness. 

On reaching the crest of a swell that was a little higher than 
the usual elevations, he lingered a minute, and cast a half 
curious eye, on either hand, in quest of those well known signs 
which might indicate a place where the three grand requisites 
of water, fuel, and fodder, were to be obtained in conjunction. 

It would seem that his search was fruitless ; for after a few 
moments of indolent and listless examination, he suffered his 
huge frame to descend the gentle declivity, in the same sluggish 
manner that an over fatted beast would have yielded to the 
downward pressure. 

His example was silently followed by those who succeeded 


16 


THE PRAIRIE. 


him, though not until the young men had manifested much 
more of interest, if not of concern, in the brief inquiry, which 
each in his turn made on gaining the same look-out. It was 
now evident, by the tardy movements both of beasts and men, 
that the time of necessary rest was not far distant. The matted 
grass of the lower land presented obstacles which fatigue began 
to render formidable, and the whip was becoming necessary to 
urge the lingering teams to their labor. At this moment, when, 
with the exception of the principal individual, a general lassitude 
was getting the mastery of the travellers, and every eye was 
cast, by a sort of common impulse, wistfully forward, the whole 
party was brought to a halt, by a spectacle as sudden as it was 
unexpected. 

The sun had fallen below the crest of the nearest wave of the 
prairie, leaving the usual rich and glowing train on its track. 
In the centre of this flood of fiery light a human form appeared, 
drawn against the gilded background as distinctly, and seem- 
ingly as palpable, as though it wt>uld come within the grasp of 
any extended hand. The figure was colossal; the attitude 
musing and melancholy ; and the situation directly in the route 
of the travellers. But imbedded, as it was, in its setting of 
garish light, it was impossible to distinguish its just proportions 
or true character. 

The effect of such a spectacle was instantaneous and powerful. 
The man in front of the emigrants came to a stand, and remained 
gazing at the mysterious object with a dull interest, that soon 
quickened into superstitious awe. His sons, so soon as the first 
emotions of surprise had a little abated, drew slowly around 
him, and as they who governed the teams gradually followed 
their example, the whole party was soon condensed in one silent 
and wondering group. Notwithstanding the impression of a 
supernatural agency was very general among the travellers, 
the ticking of gun-locks was heard, and one or two of 
the bolder youths cast their rifles forward, in readiness for 
service. 

u Send the boys off to the right,” exclaimed the resolute wife 


THE PRAIRIE. 


17 


and mother, in a sharp, dissonant voice ; “ I warrant me Asa or 
Abner will give some account of the creature ! ” 

“ It may be well enough to try the rifle,” muttered a dull 
looking man, whose features, both in outline and expression, bore 
no small resemblance to the first speaker, and who loosened the 
stock of his piece and brought it dexterously to the front, while 
delivering this opinion ; “ the Pawnee Loups are said to be 
hunting by hundreds in the plains ; if so, they’ll never miss a 
single man from their tribe.” 

“ Stay !” exclaimed a soft toned, but alarmed female voice, 
which was easily to be traced to the trembling lips of the 
younger of the two women ; “ we are not all together ; it may 
be a friend !” 

“ Who is scouting now?” demanded the father, scanning, at 
the same time, the cluster of his stout sons, with a displeased 
and sullen eye. “ Put by the piece, put by the piece ;” he 
continued, diverting the other’s aim with the finger of a giant, 
and with the air of one it might be dangerous to deny. “ My 
job is not yet ended ; let us finish the little that remains in 
peace.” 

The man who had manifested so hostile an intention appeared 
to understand the other’s allusion, and suffered himself to be 
diverted from his object. The sons turned their inquiring looks 
on the girl who had so eagerly spoken, to require an explanation ; 
but, as if content with the respite she had obtained for the 
stranger, she sank back in her seat, and chose to affect a 
maidenly silence. 

In the meantime the hues of the heavens had often changed. 
In place of the brightness which had dazzled the eye, a grey and 
more sober light had succeeded, and as the setting lost its 
brilliancy, the proportions of the fanciful form became less 
exaggerated, and finally distinct. Ashamed to hesitate, now 
that the truth was no longer doubtful, the leader of the party 
resumed his journey, using the precaution, as he ascended the 
slight acclivity, to release his own rifle from the strap, and to 
cast it into a situation more convenient for sudden use. 


18 


THE PRAIRIE. 


There was little apparent necessity, however, for such watchful- 
ness. From the moment when it had thus unaccountably 
appeared, as it were, between the heavens and the earth, the 
stranger’s figure had neither moved nor given the smallest 
evidence of hostility. Had he harbored any such evil intention, 
the individual who now came plainly into view seemed but little 
qualified to execute them. 

A frame that had endured the hardships of more than eighty 
seasons was not qualified to awaken apprehension in the breast 
of one as powerful as the emigrant. Notwithstanding his years, 
and his look of emaciation, if not of suffering, there was that 
about this solitary being, however, which said that time, and not 
disease, had laid his hand heavily on him. His form had 
withered, but it was not wasted. The sinews and muscles, which 
had once denoted great strength, though shrunken, were still 
visible ; and his whole figure had attained an appearance of 
induration, which, if it were not for the well known frailty of 
humanity, would have seemed to bid defiance to the further 
approaches of decay. His dress was chiefly of skins, worn with 
the hair to the weather ; a pouch and horn were suspended from 
his shoulders ; and he leaned on a rifle of uncommon length, 
but which, like its owner, exhibited the wear of long and hard 
service. 

As the party drew nigher to this solitary being, and came 
within a distance to be heard, a low growl issued from the grass 
at his feet, and then a tall, gaunt, toothless hound arose lazily 
from his lair, and shaking himself, made some show of resisting 
the nearer approach of the travellers. 

“ Down, Hector, down,” said his master, in a voice that was 
a little tremulous and hollow with age. “ What have ye to do, 
pup, with men who journey on their lawful callings V 

‘ Stranger, if you are much acquainted in this country,” said 
the leader of the emigrants, “ can you tell a traveller where he 
may find necessaries for the night?” 

“ Is the land filled on the other side of the Bi<r River ?” 

© 

demanded the old man solemnly, and without appearing to 


THE PRAIRIE. 


19 


hearken to the other's question ; “ or why do I see a sight I had 
never thought to behold again ?” 

“ Why, there is country left, it is true, for such as have 
money, and ar not particular in the choice,” returned the emi- 
grant ; “ but to my taste, it is getting crowdy. What may a 
man call the distance from this place to the nighest point on the 
main river ?” 

“A hunted deer could not cool his sides in the Mississippi, 
without travelling a weary five hundred miles.” 

“ And what may you name the district hereaway ?” 

“ By what name,” returned the old man, pointing significantly 
upwards, “ would you call the spot where you see yonder cloud?” 

The emigrant looked at the other like one who did not 
comprehend his meaning, and who half suspected he was trifled 
with ; but he contented himself by saying — 

“ You ar’ but a new inhabitant, like myself, I reckon, stranger, 
or otherwise you would not be backward in helping a traveller 
to some advice ; words cost but little, and sometimes lead to 
friendships.” 

“ Advice is not a gift, but a debt that the old owe to the 
young. What would you wish to know ?” 

“ Where I may ’tamp for the night. I’m no great difficulty 
maker as to bed and board ; but all old journeyers like myself 
know the virtue of sweet water, and a good browse for the 
cattle.” 

“ Come, then, with me, and you shall be master of both and 
little more is it that I can offer on this hungry prairie.” 

As the old man was speaking he raised his heavy rifle to his 
shoulder with a facility a little remarkable for his years and 
appearance, and without further words led the way over the 
acclivity to the adjacent bottom. 


20 


THE PRAIRIE. 


CHAPTER II. 


“ Up with my tent : here will I lie to-night, 

But where, to-morrow ? — Well, all’s one for that.” 

Richard tub Third. 

The travellers soon discovered the usual and unerring 
evidences that the several articles necessary to their situation 
were not far distant. A clear and gurgling spring burst out of 
the side of the declivity, and joining its waters to those of other 
similar little fountains in its vicinity, their united contributions 
formed a run, which was easily to be traced for miles along 
the prairie, by the scattering foliage and verdure which occa- 
sionally grew within the influence of its moisture. Hither, then, 
the stranger held his way, eagerly followed by the willing teams, 
whose instinct gave them a prescience of refreshment and rest. 

On reaching what he deemed a suitable spot, the old man 
halted, and with an inquiring look, he seemed to demand if it 
possessed the needed conveniences. The leader of the emigrants 
cast his eyes understanding^ about him, and examined the place 
with the keenness of one competent to judge of so nice a ques- 
tion, though in that dilatory and heavy manner which rarely 
permitted him to betray precipitation. 

“ Ay, this may do,” he said, when satisfied with his scrutiny ; 

“ boys, you have seen the last of the sun ; be stirring.” 

The young men manifested a characteristic obedience.. The 
order, for such in tone and manner it was, in truth, was received 
with respect ; but the utmost movement was' the falling of an 
axe or two from the shoulder to tt e ground, while their owners 
continued to regard the place with listless and incurious eyes. 

In the meantime, the elder traveller, as if familiar with the 
nature of the impulses by which his children were governed, * 


THB PRAIRIE. 


21 


disencumbered himself of his pack and rifle, and, assisted by the 
man already mentioned as disposed to appeal so promptly to 
the rifle, he quietly proceeded to release the cattle from the 
gears. 

At length the eldest of the sons stepped heavily forward, 
and, without any apparent effort, he buried his axe to the eye 
in the soft body of a cotton-w r ood tree. He stood a moment 
regarding the effect of the blow, with that sort of contempt with 
which a giant might be supposed to contemplate the puny 
resistance of a dwarf, and then flourishing the implement above 
his head, with the grace and dexterity with which a master of 
the art of offence would wield his nobler though less useful 
weapon, he quickly severed the trunk qf the tree, bringing its 
tall top crashing to the earth in submission to his prowess. His 
companions regarded the operation with indolent curiosity, until 
they saw the prostrate trunk stretched on the ground, when, 
as if a signal for a general attack had been given, they advanced 
in a body to the work ; and in a space of time, and with a neat- 
ness of execution, that would have astonished an ignorant spec- 
tator, they stripped a .smaff but suitable spot of its burden of 
forest, as effectually, and almost as promptly, as if a whirlwind 
had passed along the place. 

The stranger had been a silent but attentive observer of their 
progress. As tree after tree came whistling down, he cast his 
eyes upwards at the vacancies they left in the heavens, with a 
melancholy gaze, and finally turned away muttering to himself 
with a bitter smile, like one who disdained giving a more audi- 
ble utterance to his discontent. Pressing through the group of 
active and busy children who had already lighted a cheerful 
fire, the attention of the old man became next fixed on the 
movements of the leader of the emigrants and of his savage 
looking assistant. . ' 

These two had already liberated the cattle, which were 
eagerly browsing the grateful and nutritious extremities of the 
fallen trees, and were now employed about the wagon, which 
has been described as having its contents concealed with so 


22 


THE PRAIRIE. 


much apparent care. Notwithstanding this particular convey- 
ance appeared to be as silent and as tenantless as the rest of the 
vehicles, the men applied their strength to its wheels and rolled 
it apart from the others, to a dry and elevated spot near the 
edge of the thicket. Here they brought certain poles, which 
had seemingly been long employed in such a service, and 
fastening their larger ends firmly in the ground, the smaller 
were attached to the hoops that supported the covering of the 
wagon. Large folds of cloth were next drawn out of the vehicle, 
and after being spread around the whole, were pegged to the 
earth in such a manner as to form a tolerably capacious and an 
exceedingly convenient tent. After surveying their work with 
inquisitive and perhaps jealous eyes, arranging a fold here, and 
driving a peg more firmly there, the men once more applied 
their strength to the wagon, pulling it by its projecting tongue 
from the centre of the canopy until it appeared in the open air 
deprived of its covering, and destitute of any other freight than 
a few light articles of furniture. The latter were immediately 
removed by the traveller into the tent with his own hands, as 
though to enter it were a privilege to which even his bosom 
companion was not entitled. 

Curiosity is a passion that is rather quickened than destroyed 
by seclusion, and the old inhabitant of the prairies did not view 
these precautionary and mysterious movements without expe- 
riencing some of its impulses. He approached the tent, and 
was about to sever two of its folds, with the very obvious inten- 
tion of examining more closely into the nature of its contents, 
when the man who had once already placed his life in jeopardy, 
seized him by the arm, and with a rude exercise of his strength 
threw him from the spot he had selected as the one most conve- 
nient for his object. 

“ It’s an honest regulation, friend,” the fellow drily observed, 
though with an eye that threatened volumes, “ and sometimes 
it is a safe one, which says, mind your owm business.” 

“Men seldom bring anything to be concealed into these 
deserts,” returned the old man, as if willing, and yet a little 


THE PRAIRIE. 


23 


ignorant how to apologize for the liberty he had been about to 
take, “ and I had hoped no offence in examining your comforts.” 

“ They seldom bring themselves, I reckon ; though this has 
the look of an old country, to my eye it seems not to be overly 
peopled.” 

“ The land is as aged as the rest of the works of the Lord, I 
believe; but you say true concerning its inhabitants. Many 
months have passed since I have laid eyes on a face of my own 
color before your own. I say again, friend, I meant no harm ; 
I did not knq§y but there was something behind the cloth that 
might bring former days to my mind.” 

As the stranger ended his simple explanation he walked 
meekly away, like one who felt the deepest sense of the right 
which every man has to the quiet enjoyment of his own, with- 
out any troublesome interference on the part of his neighbor ; 
a wholesome and a just principle that he had also most proba- 
bly imbibed from the habits of his secluded life. As he passed 
towards the little encampment of the emigrants, for such the 
place had now become, he heard the voice of the leader calling 
aloud in its hoarse tones, the name of 

“Ellen Wade.” 

The girl who has been already introduced to the reader, and 
who was occupied with the others of her sex around the fires, 
sprang willingly forward at this summons ; and passing the 
stranger with the activity of a young antelope, she was instantly 
lost behind the forbidden folds of the tent. Neither her sud- 
den disappearance, nor any of the arrangements we have 
mentioned, seemed, however, to excite the smallest surprise 
among the remainder of the party. The young men, who had 
already completed their tasks with the axe, were all engaged 
after their lounging and listless manner ; some in bestowing 
equitable portions of the fodder among the different animals ; 
others in plying the heavy pestle of a movable hommany* 
mortar ;* and one or two in wheeling the remainder of the 


* Homminy is a dish composed chiefly of cracked corn, or maizo. 


24 


THE PRAIRIE, 


wagons aside, and arranging them in such a manner as to 
form a sort of outwork for their otherwise defenceless bivouac. 

These several duties were soon performed, and as darkness 
now began to conceal the objects on the surrounding prairie, 
the shrill-toned termagant, whose voice since the halt had been 
diligently exercised among her idle and drowsy offspring, 
announced, in tones that might have been heard at a dan- 
gerous distance, that the evening meal waited only for the 
approach of those who were to consume it. Whatever may 
be the other qualities of a border man, he is seidom deficient 
in the virtue of hospitality. The emigrant no sooner heard 
the sharp call of his wife, than he cast his eyes about him 
in quest of the stranger, in order to offer him the place of 
distinction in the rude entertainment to which they were so 
unceremoniously summoned. 

“ I thank you, friend,” the old man replied to the rough 
invitation to take a seat nigh the smoking kettle ; “ you have 
my hearty thanks ; but I have eaten for the day, and am not 
one of them who dig their graves with their teeth. Well ; as 
you wish it, I will take a place, for it is long sin’ I have seen 
people of my color eating their daily bread.” 

“ You ar’ an old settler in these districts, then ?” the emigrant 
rather remarked than inquired, with a mouth filled nearly to 
overflowing with the delicious hommany, prepared by his skil- 
ful, though repulsive spouse. “ They told us below, we should 
find settlers something thinnish hereaway, and I must say, the 
report was mainly true; for, unless we count the Canada 
traders on the big river, you ar’ the first white face I have met 
in a good five hundred miles ; that is, calculating according to 
your own reckoning.” 

“ Though I have spent some years in this quarter, I can 
hardly be called a settler, seeing that I have no regular 
abode, and seldom pass more than a month at a time on the 
same range.” 

“A hunter, I reckon?” the other continued, glancing his 
eyes aside, as if to examine the equipments of his new 


THE PRAIRIE. 


25 


acquaintance; “your fixen seem none of the best for such a 
calling” 

“ They are old, and nearly ready to be laid aside, like their 
master,” said the old man. regarding his rifle with a look 
in which affection and regret were singularly blended ; “ and 
I may say they are but little needed, too. You are mistaken, 
friend, in calling me a hunter ; I am nothing better than a 
trapper.”* 

“ If you ar’ much of the one, I’m bold to say you ar some- 
thing of the other; for the two callings go mainly together in 
these districts.” 

“ To the shame of the man who is able to follow the first 
be it so said !” returned the trapper, whom in future we shall 
choose to designate by his pursuit ; “ for more than fifty years 
did I carry my rifle in the wilderness, without so much as set- 
ting a snare for even a bird that flies the heavens ; much less 
a beast that has nothing but legs for its gifts.” 

“ I see but little difference whether a man gets his peltry by 
the rifle or by the trap,” said the ill-looking companion of the 
emigrant, in his rough manner. “ The ’arth was made for our 
comfort; and, for that matter, so ar’ its creatur’s.” 

“ You seem to have but little plunder,f stranger, for one who 
is far abroad,” bluntly interrupted the emigrant, as if he had a 
reason for wishing to change the conversation. “ I hope you 
ar’ better off* for skins.” 

“ I make but little use of either,” the trapper quietly replied. 
“ At my time of life, food and clothing be all that is needed ; 
and I have little occasion for what you call plunder, unless it 


* It is scarcely necessary to say, that this American word means one who 
takes his game in a trap. It is of general use on the frontiers. The beaver, an 
animal too sagacious to be easily killed, is oftener taken in this way than in any 
other. 

f The cant word for luggage in the western states of America is “ plunder.” 
The term might easily mislead one as to the character of the people, who, notwith- 
standing their pleasant use of so expressive a word, are, like the inhabitants of all 
new settlements, hospitable and honest. Knavery of the description conveyed by 
“plunder,” is chiefly found in regions m ore civilized. 

2 


26 


the prairie. 


may be now and then to barter for a horn of powder or a bar 
of lead.” 

“ You ar’ not, then, of these parts by natur’, friend,” the 
emigrant continued, having in his mind the exception which tho 
other had taken to the very equivocal word, which he himself, 
according to the custom of the country, had used for “ bag- 
gage,” or “ effects.” 

“ I was born on the sea-shore, though most of my life has 
been passed in the woods.” 

The whole party now looked up at him, as men are apt to 
turn their eyes on some unexpected object of general interest. 
One or two of the young men repeated the words “ sea-shore ; 1 
and the woman tendered him one of those civilities with which, 
uncouth as they were, she was little accustomed to grace her 
hospitality, as if in deference to the travelled dignity of her 
guest. After a long, and seemingly a meditating silence, the 
emigrant, who had, however, seen no apparent necessity to sus- 
pend the functions of his masticating powers, resumed the 
discourse. 

“ It is a long road, as I have heard, from the waters of the 
west to the shores of the main sea ?” 

“ It is a weary path, indeed, friend ; and much have I seen, 
and something have I suffered in journeying over it.” 

“ A man would see a good deal of hard travel in going its 
length!” 

“ Seventy and five years have I been upon the road ; and 
there are not half that number of leagues in the whole distance, 
after you leave the Hudson, on which I have not tasted venison 
of my own killing. But this is vain boasting. Of what use 
are former deeds, when time draws to an end ?” 

“ I once met a man that had boated on the river he names,” 
observed the eldest son, speaking in a low tone of voice, like 
one who distrusted his knowledge, and deemed it prudent to 
assume a becoming diffidence in the presence of a man who 
had seen so much : “ from his tell, it must be a considerable 
stream, and deep enough for a keel-boat from top to bottom.” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


21 


“It is a wide and deep water-course, and many sightly 
towns are there growing on its banks,” returned the trap- 
per ; “ and yet it is but a brook to the waters of the endless 
river !” 

“I call nothing a stream that a man can travel round,” 
exclaimed the ill-looking associate of the emigrant: “a real 
river must be crossed ; not headed, like a bear in a county 
hunt.”* 

“ Have you been far towards the sundown, friend ?” inter- 
rupted the emigrant, as if he desired to keep his rough com- 
panion as much as possible out of the discourse. “ I find it is 
a wide tract of clearing this, into which I have fallen.” 

“ You may travel weeks and you will see it the same. I 
often think the Lord has placed this barren belt of prairie 
behind the States, to warn men to what their folly may yet 
bring the land ! Ay, weeks, if not months, may you journey 
in these open fields, in which there is neither dwelling nor habit- 
ation for man or beast. Even the savage animals travel miles 
on miles to seek their dens ; and yet the wind seldom blows 
from the east, but I conceit the sound of axes, and the crash 
of falling trees, are in my ears.” 

As the old man spoke with the seriousness and dignity that 
age seldom fails to communicate even to less striking sentiments, 
his auditors were deeply attentive, and as silent as the grave. 
Indeed, the trapper was left to renew the dialogue himself, which 
he soon did by asking a question, in the indirect manner so 
much in use by the border inhabitants. 

“ You found it no easy matter to ford the watercourses, and 
to make your way so deep into the prairies, friend, with teams 
of horses and herds of horned beasts ?” 

“ I kept the left bank of the main river,” the emigrant replied, 
“ until I found the stream leading too much to the north, when 

* There is a practice in the new countries, to assemble the men of a large dis- 
trict, sometimes of an entire county to exterminate the beasts of prey. They form 
themselves into a circle of several miles in extent, and gradually draw nearer, kill- 
ing all before them. The allusion is to this custom, in which the hunted beast is 
turned from one to another. 


28 


THE PRAIRIE. 


we rafted ourselves across without any great suffering. The 
woman lost a fleece or two from the next year’s shearing, and 
the girls have one cow less to their dairy. Since then, we have 
done bravely, by bridging a creek every day or two.” 

“ It is likely you will continue west until you come to land 
more suitable for a settlement?” 

“ Until I see reason to stop, or to turn ag’in ,” the emigrant 
bluntly answered, rising at the same time, and cutting short the 
dialogue by the suddenness of the movement. His example 
was followed by the trapper, as well as the rest of the party ; 
and then, without much deference to the presence of their guest, 
the travellers proceeded to make their dispositions to pass the 
night. Several little bowers, or rather huts, had already been 
formed of the tops of trees, blankets of coarse country manu- 
facture, and the skins of buffaloes, united without much reference 
to any other object than temporary comfort. Into these covers 
the children, with their mother, soon drew themselves, where, 
it is more than possible, they were all speedily lost in the 
oblivion of sleep. Before the men, however, could seek their 
rest, they had sundry little duties to perform ; such as complet- 
ing their works of defence, carefully concealing the fires, reple- 
nishing the fodder of their cattle, and setting the watch that 
was to protect the party in the approaching hours of night. 

The former was effected by dragging the trunks of a few trees 
into the intervals left by the wagons, and along the open space 
between the vehicles and the thicket, on which, in military lan- 
guage, the encampment would be said to have rested ; thus 
forming a sort of chevaux-de-frise on three sides of the position. 
Within these narrow limits (with the exception of what the tent 
contained), both man and beast were now collected ; the latter 
being far too happy in resting their weary limbs to give any 
undue annoyance to their scarcely more intelligent associates. 
Two of the young men took their rifles ; and, first renewing the 
priming, and examining the flints with the utmost care, they 
proceeded, the one to the extreme right, and the other to the left 
of the encampment, where they posted themselves within the 


THE PRAIRIE. 


29 


shadows of the thicket ; but in such positions as enabled each 
to overlook a portion of the prairie. 

The trapper loitered about the place, declining to share the 
straw of the emigrant, until the whole arrangement was complet- 
ed; and then, without the ceremony of an adieu, he slowly 
retired from the spot. 

It was now in the first watch of the night ; and the pale, 
quivering, and deceptive light from a new moon, was playing 
over the endless waves of the prairie, tipping the swells with 
gleams of brightness, and leaving the interval land in deep 
shadow. Accustomed to scenes of solitude like the present, the 
old man, as he left the encampment, proceeded alone into the 
waste, like a bold vessel leaving its haven to enter on the track- 
less field of the ocean. He appeared to move for some time with- 
out object, or, indeed, without any apparent consciousness whither 
his limbs were carrying him. At length, on reaching the rise 
of one of the undulations, he came to a stand ; and, for the first 
time since leaving the band who had caused such a flood of 
reflections and recollections to crowd upon his mind, the old man 
became aware of his present situation. Throwing one end of 
his rifle to the earth, he stood leaning on the other, again lost in 
deep contemplation for several minutes, during which time his 
hound came and crouched at his feet. A deep, menacing growl, 
from the faithful* animal, first aroused him from his musing. 

“ What now, dog ?” he said, looking down at his companion, 
as if he addressed a being of an intelligence equal to his own, 
and speaking in a voice of great affection. “ What is it, pup ? 
ha ! Hector ; what is it nosing now ? It won’t do, dog ; it 
won’t do ; the very fa’ans play in open view of us, without minding 
so worn out curs as you and I. Instinct is their gift, Hector ; and 
they have found out how little we are to be feared, they have !” 

The dog stretched his head upwards, and responded to the 
words of his master by a long and plaintive whine, which he 
even continued after he had again buried his head in the grass, 
as if he held an intelligent communication with one who so well 
knew how to interpret dumb discourse. 


30 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ This is a manifest warning, Hector !” the trapper continued, 
dropping his voice to the tones of caution, and looking warily 
about him. “ What is it, pup ; speak plainer, dog ; what is 
it?” 

The hound, had however, already laid his nose to the earth, 
and was silent ; appearing to slumber. But the keen, quick 
glances of his master soon caught a glimpse of a distant figure, 
which seemed, through the deceptive light, floating along the 
very elevation on which he had placed himself. Presently its 
proportions became more distinct, and then an airy female form 
appeared to hesitate, as if considering whether it would be pru- 
dent to advance. Though the eyes of the dog were now to be 
seen glancing in the rays of the moon, opening and shutting 
lazily, he gave no further signs of displeasure. 

“ Come nigher; we are friends,” said the trapper, associating 
himself with his companion by long use, and probably through 
the strength of the secret tie that connected them together ; 
“ we are your friends ; none will harm you ” 

Encouraged by the mild tones of his voice, and perhaps led 
on by the earnestness of her purpose, the female approached 
until she stood at his side ; when the old man perceived his 
visitor to be the young woman with whom the reader has 
already become acquainted by the name of “ Ellen Wade.” 

“ I had thought you were gone,” she said, looking timidly 
and anxiously around. “ They said you were gone ; and that 
we should never see you again. I did not think it was you !” 

“ Men are no common objects in these empty fields,” returned 
the trapper, “ and I humbly hope, though I have so long con- 
sorted with the beasts of the wilderness, that I have not yet lost 
the look of my kind.” 

“ Oh ! I knew you to be a man, and I thought I knew the 
whine of the hound too,” she answered hastily, as if willing to 
explain she knew not what, and then checking herself, like one 
fearful of having already said too much. 

“ I saw no dogs among the teams of your father,” the trapper 
remarked. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


31 


“ Father !” exclaimed the girl feelingly, “ I have no father ! I 
had nearly said no friend.” 

The old man turned towards her with a look of kindness and 
interest that was even more conciliating than the ordinary 
upright and benevolent expression of his weather-beaten coun- 
tenance. 

“ Why then do you venture in a place where none but the 
strong should come ?” he demanded. “ Did you not know that 
when you crossed the big river you left a friend behind you 
that is always bound to look to the young and feeble like your- 
self.” 

“ Of whom do you speak ?” 

“ The law — ’tis bad to have it, but I sometimes think it is 
worse to be entirely without it. Age and weakness has brought 
me to feel such weakness at times. Yes — yes, the law is needed 
when such as have not the gifts of strength and wisdom are to 
be taken care of. I hope, young woman, if you have no father 
you have at least a brother.” 

The maiden felt the tacit reproach conveyed in this covert 
question, and for a moment she remained in an embarrassed 
silence. But catching a glimpse of the mild and serious features 
of her companion as he continued to gaze on her with a look 
of interest, she replied firmly and in a manner that left no doubt 
she comprehended his meaning : 

“ Heaven forbid that any such as you have seen should be a 
brother of mine, or anything else near or dear to me! But tell 
me, do you then actually live alone in this desert district, old 
man; is there really none here besides yourself?” 

“ There are hundreds, nay, thousands of the rightful owners 
of the country, roving about the plains ; but few of our own 
color.” 

“And have you then met none who are white but us?” 
interrupted the girl, like one too impatient to await the 
tardy explanations of age and deliberation. 

“Not in many days. — Hush, Hector, hush,” he added, in 
reply to a low and nearly inaudible growl from his hound. 


32 


THE PRAIRIE. 


‘•The dog scents mischief in the wind ! The black bears from 
the mountains sometimes make their way even lower than this. 
The pup is not apt to complain of the harmless game. I 
am not so ready and true with the piece as I used-to-could-be, 
yet I have struck even the fiercest animals of the prairie in 
my time ; so you have little reason for fear, young woman.” 

The girl raised her eyes in that peculiar manner which 
is so often practised by her sex when they commence their 
glances, by examining the earth at their feet, and terminate 
them by noting everything within the power of human vision ; 
but she rather manifested the quality of impatience than any 
feeling of alarm. 

A short bark from the dog, however, soon gave a new direc- 
tion to the looks of both, and then the real object of his second 
warning became dimly visible. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


33 


CHAPTER III. 

“Come, come, thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood, as any in Italy; and as 
soon mov’d to be moody, and as soon moody to be moved.” 

Romeo and Juliet. 

Though the trapper manifested some surprise when he 
perceived that another human figure was approaching him, and 
that, too, from a direction opposite to the place where the emi- 
grant had made his encampment, it was with the steadiness of 
one long accustomed to scenes of danger. 

“ This is a man,” he said ; “ and one who has white blood in 
h:s veins, or his step would be lighter. It will be well to 
be ready for the worst, as the half-and-halfs* that one meets in 
these distant districts are altogether more barbarous than 
the real savage.” 

He raised his rifle while he spoke, and assured himself of the 
state of its flint, as well as of the priming, by manual examina- 
tion. But his arm was arrested while in the act of throw- 
ing forward the muzzle of the piece, by the eager and trembling 
hands of his companion. 

“ For God’s sake be not too hasty,” she said ; “ it may 
be a friend — an acquaintance — a neighbor !” 

“ A friend !” the old man repeated, deliberately releasing him- 
self at the same time from her grasp. “ Friends are rare in any 
land, and less in this, perhaps, than in another ; and the neigh- 
borhood is too thinly settled to make it likely that he who 
comes towards us is even an acquaintance.” 

“ But though a stranger, you would not seek his blood !” 

* Half-breeds ; men born of Indian women by white fathers. This race has 
much of the depravity of civilization without the virtues of the savage. 

2 * 


34 


THE PRAIRIE. 


The trapper earnestly regarded her anxious and frigntened 
features, and then he dropped the butt of his rifle on the ground, 
like one whose purpose had undergone a sudden change. 

“No,” he said, speaking rather to himself than to his 
companion, “ she is right ; blood is not to be spilt, to save the 
life of one so useless, and so near his time. Let him come on ; 
my skins, my traps, and even my rifle shall be his, if he sees fit 
to demand them.” 

“ He will ask for neither : — he wants neither,” returned the 
girl ; “ if he be an honest man, he will surely be content 
with his own, and ask for nothing that is the property of 
another.” 

The trapper had not time to express the surprise he felt 
at this incoherent and contradictory language, for the man who 
was advancing, was already within fifty feet of the place where 
they stood. In the meantime Hector had not been an indiffer- 
ent witness of what was passing. At the sound of the distant 
footsteps, he had arisen from his warm bed at the feet of his 
master; and now, as the stranger appeared in open view, 
he stalked slowly towards him, crouching to the earth like 
a panther about to take his leap. 

“ Call in your dog,” said a firm, deep, manly voice, in tones 
of friendship rather than of menace; “I love a hound, and 
should be sorry to do an injury to the animal.” 

“ You hear what is said about you, pup ?” the trapper 
answered ; “ come hither, fool. His growl and his bark are all 
that is left him now ; you may come on, friend ; the hound 
is toothless.” 

The stranger profited by the intelligence. He sprang eagerly 
forward, and at the next instant stood at the side of Ellen 
Wade. After assuring himself of the identity of the latter by a 
hasty but keen glance, he turned his attention with a quickness 
and impatience that proved the interest he took in the result, to 
a similar examination of her companion. 

“ From what cloud have you fallen, my good old man ?” he 
said, in a careless, off-hand, heedless manner, that seemed toe 


THE PRAIRIE. 


35 


natural to be assumed ; “ or do you actually live, hereaway, in 
the prairies ?” 

“I have been long on earth, and never I hope nigher to 
heaven than I am at this moment,” returned the trapper; “ my 
dwelling, if dwelling I may be said to have, is not far distant. 
Now may I take the liberty with you, that you are so willing to 
take with others ? Whence do you come, and where is your 
home ?” 

“ Softly, softly when I have done with my catechism, it will 
be time to begin with yours. What sport is this you follow by 
moonlight? You are not dodging the buffaloes at such an 
hour !” 

“I am, as you see, going from an encampment of travellers, 
which lies over yonder swell in the land, to my own wigwam ; 
in doing so, I wrong no man.” 

“All fair and true. And you got this young woman to 
show you the way, because she knows it so well, and you know 
so little about it yourself !” 

“ I met her, as I have met you, by accident. For ten 
tiresome years have I dwelt on these open fields, and never, 
before to-night, have I found human beings with white skins on 
them, at this hour. If my presence here gives offence, I am 
sorry, and will go my way. It is more than likely that when 
your young friend has told her story, you will be better given to 
believe mine.” 

“ Friend !” said the youth, lifting a cap of skins from his head, 
and running his fingers leisurely through a dense mass of black 
and shaggy locks, u if I have ever laid eyes on the girl before to- 
night, may I ” 

w You’ve said enough, Paul,” interrupted the female, laying 
her hand on his mouth, with a familiarity that gave something 
very like the lie direct to his intended asseveration. “ Our 
secret will be safe with this honest old man. I know it by his 
looks and kind words.” 

“ Our secret. Ellen, have you forgot 


80 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ Nothing. I have not forgotten anything I should remem- 
ber. But still I say we are safe with this honest trapper .” 

“Trapper! is he then a trapper? Give me your hand, 
father ; our trades should bring us acquainted.” 

“ There is little call for handicrafts in this region,” returned 
the other, examining the athletic and active form ot the youth, as 
he leaned carelessly and not ungracefully on his rifle ; “ the art 
of taking the creatur’s of God in traps and nets, is one that 
needs more cunning than manhood ; and yet am I brought to 
practise it in my age ! But it would be quite as seemly in one 
like you to follow a pursuit better becoming your years and 
courage.” 

“ I ! I never took even a slinking mink or a paddling musk- 
rat in a cage ; though I admit having peppered a few of 
the dark-skin’d devils, when I had much better have kept my 
powder in the horn and the lead in its pouch. Not I, old man ; 
nothing that crawls the earth is for my sport.” 

“ What then may you do for a living, friend ? — for little 
profit is to be made in these districts, if a man denies him- 
self his lawful right in the beasts of the fields.” 

“ I deny myself nothing. If a bear crosses my path, he is soon 
the mere ghost of Bruin. The deer begin to nose me ; and as 
for the buffalo, I have killed more beef, old stranger, than the 
largest butcher in all Kentuck.” 

“ You can shoot then !” demanded the trapper, with a glow 
of latent fire glimmering about his eyes ; “ is your hand true 
and your look quick ?” 

“ The first is like a steel trap, and the last nimbler than a 
buck-shot. I wish it was hot noon now, grand’ther ; and that 
there was an acre or two of your white swans or of black 
feathered ducks going south, over our heads ; you or Ellen here 
might set your heart on the finest in the flock, and my charac- 
ter against a horn of powder, that the bird would be hanging 
head downwards in five, minutes, and that too with a single ball. 
I scorn a shot-gun ! No man can say he ever knew me carry 
One a rod.” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


31 


“The lad has good in him ! I see it plainly by his manner;’ 
said the trapper, turning to Ellen with an encouraging air ; “ I 
will take it on myself to say, that you are not unwise in meet- 
ing him as you do. Tell me, lad ; did you ever strike a leaping 
buck atwixt the antlers? Hector; quiet, pup; quiet. The 
very name of venison quickens the blood of the cur ; — did you 
ever take an animal in that fashion on the long leap ?” 

“You might just as well ask me, did you ever eat? There 
is no fashion, old stranger, that a deer has not been touched by 
my hand, unless it was when asleep.” 

“ Ay, ay ; you have a long and a happy — ay, and an honest 
life afore you ! I am old, and I suppose I might also say, worn 
out and useless ; but if it was given me to choose my time and 
place again, — as such things are not and ought not ever to be 
given to the will of man — though if such a gift was to be given 
me I would say, twenty and the wilderness ! But tell me ; how 
do you part with the peltry ?” 

“ With my pelts ! I never took a skin from a buck nor a 
quill from a goose in my life ! I knock them over now and 
then for a meal, and sometimes to keep my finger true to the 
touch ; but when hunger is satisfied the prairie wolves get the 
remainder. No — no — I keep to my calling; which pays me 
better than all the fur I could sell on the other side of the big 
river.” 

The old man appeared to ponder a little ; but shaking his 
head, he soon continued — 

“ I know of but oue business that can be followed here with 
profit ” 

He was interrupted by the youth, who raised a small cup of 
tin which dangled at his neck before the other’s eyes, and spring- 
ing its lid, the delicious odor of the finest flavored honey diffused 
itself over the organs of the trapper. 

“ A bee hunter !” observed the latter, with a readiness that 
proved he understood the nature of the occupation, though not 
without some little surprise at discovering one of the other’s 
spirited mien engaged in so humble a pursuit. “ It pays well 


38 


THE PRAIRIE. 


in the skirts of the settlements, but I should call it a doubtful 
trade in the more open districts.” 

“You think a tree is wanting for a swarm to settle in ! But 
I know differently ; and so I have stretched out a few hundred 
miles further west than common to taste your honey. And now 
I ha7e bated your curiosity, stranger, you will just move aside 
while I tell the remainder of my story to this young woman.” 

“ It is not necessary, I’m sure it is not necessary, that he should 
leave us,” said Ellen, with a haste that implied some little con- 
sciousness of the singularity if not of the impropriety of the 
request. “ You can have nothing to say that the whole world 
might not hear.” 

“ No ! well, may I be stung to death by drones if I under- 
stand the buzzings of a woman’s mind ? For my part, Ellen, I 
care for nothing nor anybody ; and am just as ready to go 
down to the place where your uncle, if uncle you can call one 
who I’ll swear is no relation, has hoppled his teams, and tell 
the old man my mind now, as I shall be a year hence. You 
have only to say a single word and the thing is done; let him 
like it or not.” 

“You are ever so hasty and rash, Paul Hover, that I seldom 
know when I am safe with you. How can you who know the 
danger of our being seen together, speak of going before my 
uncle and his sons ?” 

“ Has he done that of which he has reason to be ashamed ?” 
demanded the trapper, who had not moved an inch from the 
place he first occupied. 

“ Heaven forbid ! But there are reasons why he should not 
be seen just now, that could do him no harm if known, but 
which may not yet be told. And so if you will wait, father, 
near yonder willow bush until I have heard what Paul can pos- 
sibly have to say, I shall be sure to come and wish you a good 
night before I return to the camp.” 

The trapper drew slowly aside, as if satisfied with the some- 
what incoherent reason Ellen had given why he should retire. 
When completely out of ear shot of the earnest and hurried 


THE PRAIRIE. 


39 


dialogue that instantly commenced between the two he had left, 
the old man again paused, and patiently awaited the moment 
when he might renew his conversation with beings in whom he 
felt a growing interest, no less from the mysterious character of 
their intercourse than from a natural sympathy in the welfare 
of a pair so young, and who, as in the simplicity of his heart 
he was also fain to believe, were also so deserving. He was 
accompanied by his indolent but attached dog, who once more 
made his bed at the feet of his master, and soon lay slumbering 
as usual, with his head nearly buried in the dense fog of the 
prairie grass. 

It was a spectacle so unusual to see the human form amid 
the solitude in which he dwelt, that the trapper bent his eyes 
on the dim figures of his new acquaintances with sensations to 
which he had long been a stranger. Their presence awakened 
recollections and emotions to which his sturdy but honest nature 
had latterly paid but little homage, and his thoughts began to 
wander over the varied scenes of a life of hardships that had 
been strangely blended with scenes of wild and peculiar enjoy- 
ment. The train taken by his thoughts had already conducted 
him in imagination far into an ideal world, when he was once 
more suddenly recalled to the reality of his situation by the 
movements of the faithful hound. 

The dog, who, in submission to his years and infirmities, had 
manifested such a decided propensity to sleep, now arose and 
stalked from out the shadow cast by the tall person of his 
master, and looked abroad into the prairie, as if his instinct 
apprised him of the presence of still another visitor. Then 
seemingly content with his examination, he returned to his 
comfortable post, and disposed of his weary limbs with the deli- 
beration and care of one who was no novice in the art of self- 
preservation. 

“ What ; again, Hector !” said the trapper in a soothing 
voice, which he had the caution, however, to utter in an under 
tone ; “ what is it, dog ? tell it all to his master, pup ; what is 
it?” 


40 


THE PRAIRIE. 


Hector answered with another growl, but was content to con 
tinue in his lair. These were evidences of intelligence ana 
distrust, to which one as practised as the trapper could not turn 
an inattentive ear. He again spoke to the dog, encouraging 
him to watchfulness by a low guarded whistle. The animal, 
however, as if conscious of having already discharged his duty, 
obstinately refused to raise his head from the grass. 

“ A hint from such a friend is far better than man’s advice !” 
muttered the trapper, as he slowly moved towards the couple 
who were yet too earnestly and abstractedly engaged in their 
own discourse to notice his approach ; “ and none but a con- 
ceited settler would hear it and not respect it as he ought. 
Children,” he added, when nigh enough to address his com- 
panions, “ we are not alone in these dreary fields ; there are 
others stirring, and therefore, to the shame of our kind be it 
said, danger is nigh.” 

“ If one of the lazy sons of Skirting Ishmael is prowling out 
of his camp to-night,” said the young bee-hunter, with jgreat 
vivacity, and in tones that might easily have been excited to a 
menace, “ he may have an end put to his journey sooner than 
either he or his father is dreaming !” 

“My life on it they are all with the teams,” hurriedly 
answered the girl. “ I saw the whole of them asleep myself, 
except the two on watch ; and their natures have greatly 
changed if they too are not both dreaming of a turkey hunt or 
a court-house fight at this very moment.” 

“ Some beast with a strong scent has passed between the 
wind and the hound, father, and it makes him uneasy ; or per- 
haps he too is dreaming. I had a.pup of my own in Kentuck, 
that would start upon a long chase from a deep sleep ; and all 
upon the fancy of some dream. Go to him and pinch his ear, 
that the beast may feel the life within him.” 

“Not so — not so,” returned the trapper, shaking his head as 
one who better understood the qualities of his dog. “ Youth 
sleeps, ay, and dreams too ; but age is awake and watchful. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


41 


The pup is never false with his nose, and long experience tells 
me to heed his warnings.” 

“ Did you ever run him upon the trail of carrion f” 

“ Why, I must say that the ravenous beasts have sometimes 
tempted me to let him loose, for they are as greedy as men 
after the venison, in its season ; but then I know the reason of 
the dog would tell him the object ! No — no, Hector is an 
animal known in the ways of man, and will never strike a false 
trail when a true one is to be followed !” 

“ Ay, ay, the secret is out ! you have run the hound on the 
track of a wolf, and his nose has a better memory than his mas- 
ter !” said the bee-hunter, laughing. 

“ I have seen the creatur’ sleep for hours with pack after pack 
in open view. A wolf might eat out of his tray without a 
snarl, unless there was a scarcity ; then, indeed, Hector would 
be apt to claim his own.” 

“ There are panthers down from the mountains ; I saw one 
make a leap at a sick deer, as the sun was setting. Go — go you 
back &> the dog, and tell him the truth — father ; in a minute, 
I ’ 

He was interrupted - by a long, loud, and piteous howl from 
the hound, which rose on the air of the evening, like the wail- 
ing of some spirit of the place, and passed off into the prairie, 
in cadences that rose and fell like its own undulating surface. 
The trapper was impressively silent, listening intently. Even 
the reckless bee-hunter was struck with the wailing wildness 
of the sounds. After a short pause the former whistled the 
dog to his side, and turning to his companions, he said with the 
seriousness which in his opinion the occasion demanded — 

“ They who think man enjoys all the knowledge of the crea- 
tures of God, will live to be disappointed, if they reach, as I 
have done, the age of fourscore years. I will not take upon 
myself to say what mischief is brewing, nor will I vouch that 
even the hound himself knows so much ; but, that evil is nigh, 
and that wisdom invites us to avoid it, I have heard from the 
mouth of one who never lies. I did think the pup had become 


42 


THE PRAIRIE . 


unused to the footsteps of man, and that your presence made 
him uneasy ; but his nose has been on a long scent the whole 
evening, and what I mistook as a notice of your coming, has 
been intended for something more serious. If the advice of an old 
man is, then, worth hearkening to, children, you will quickly go 
different ways to your places of shelter and safety.” 

“If I quit Ellen at such a moment,” exclaimed the youth, 
u may I *’ 

“ You’ve said enough !” the girl interrupted, by again inter- 
posing a hand that might, both by its delicacy and color, have 
graced a far more elevated station in life ; “ my time is out, and 
we must part at all events — so good night, Paul — father — good 
night.” 

“ Hist !” said the youth, seizing her arm, as she was in the 
very act of tripping from his side. “ Hist ! do you hear 
nothing ? There are buffaloes playing their pranks at no great 
distance. That sound beats the earth like a herd of the mad 
scampering devils !” 

His two companions listened, as people in their situation would 
be apt to lend their faculties to discover the meaning of any 
doubtful noises, especially when heard after so many and such 
startling warnings. The unusual sounds were unequivocally, 
though still faintly, audible. The youth and his female com- 
panion had made several hurried and vacillating conjectures con- 
cerning their nature, when a current of the night air brought 
the rush of trampling footsteps too sensibly to their ears, to 
render mistake any longer possible. 

“ I am right !” said the bee-hunter ; “ a panther is driving 
a herd before him ; or, may be, there is a battle among the 
beasts.” 

“ Your ears are cheats,” returned the old man, who, from the 
moment his own organs had been able to catch the distant 
sounds, stood like a statue made to represent deep attention : — 

“ the leaps are too long for the buffalo, and too regular for ter- 
ror. Hist ! now they are in a bottom where the grass is high, 
and the sound is deadened ! Ay, there they go on the hard 




THE PRAIRIE. 


43 


earth ! and now they come up the swell, dead upon us ; they 
will be here afore you can find a cover !” 

“ Come, Ellen,” cried the youth, seizing his companion by the 
hand, “ let us make a trial for the encampment.” 

“ Too late ! too late !” exclaimed the trapper, “ for the crea- 
tur’s are in open view ; and a bloody band of accursed Siouxes 
they are, by their thieving look, and the random fashion in 
which they ride !” 

“ Siouxes or devils, they shall find us men !” said the bee- 
hunter, with a mien as fierce as if he led a party of superior 
strength, and of a courage equal to his own. “ You have a 
piece, old man, and will pull a trigger in behalf of a helpless 
Christian girl !” 

“ Down, down into the grass — down with ye both,” whispered 
the trapper, intimating to them to turn aside to the tall weeds, 
which grew in a denser body than common near the place 
where they stood. “ You’ve not the time to fly, nor the num- 
bers to fight, foolish boy. Down into the grass, if you prize the 
young woman, or value the gift of life !” 

His remonstrance, seconded as it was by a prompt and ener- 
getic action, did not fail to produce the submission to his order 
which the occasion seemed, indeed, imperiously to require. The 
moon had fallen behind a sheet of thin, fleecy clouds, which 
skirted the horizon, leaving just enough of its faint and fluctu- 
ating light to render objects visible, dimly revealing their forms 
and proportions. The trapper, by exercising that species of 
influence over his companions, which experience and decision 
usually assert in cases of emergency, had effectually suc- 
ceeded in concealing them in the grass ; and by the aid of the 
feeble rays of the luminary, he was enabled to scan the disor- 
derly party, which was riding, like so many madmen, directly 
upon them. 

A band of beings, who resembled demons rather than men, 
sporting in their nightly revels across the bleak plain, was in 
truth approaching at a fearful rate, and in a direction to leave 
little hope that some one among them, at least, would not pass 


44 


THE PRAIRIE. 


over the spot where the trapper and his companions lay. At 
intervals, the clattering of hoofs was borne along by the night 
wind, quite audibly in their front, and then again their progress 
through the fog of the autumnal grass was swift and silent ; 
adding to the unearthly appearance of the spectacle. The 
trapper, who had called in his hound, and bidden him crouch 
at his side, now kneeled in the cover also, and kept a keen and 
watchful eye on the route of the band, soothing the fears of the 
girl, and restraining the impatience of the youth in the same 
breath. 

“ If there’s one, there’s thirty of the miscreants !” he said, in 
a sort of episode to his whispered comments. “ Ay, ay ; they 
are edging towards the river — Peace, pup — peace — no, here 
they come this way again — the thieves don’t seem to know their 
own errand ! If there were just six of us, lad, what a beautiful 
ambushment we might make upon them, from this very spot — it 
won’t do, it won’t do, boy ; keep yourself closer, or your head 
will be seen — besides, I’m not altogether strong in the opinion 
it would be lawful, as they have done us no harm. There they 
bend again to the river — no ; here they come up the swell, now 
is the moment to be as still as if the breath had done its duty 
and departed the body.” 

The old man sank into the grass while he was speaking, as 
if the final separation to which he alluded, had in his own case 
actually occurred, and, at the next instant, a band of wild horse- 
men whirled by them, with the noiseless rapidity in which it 
might be imagined a troop of spectres would pass. The dark 
and fleeting forms were already vanished, when the trapper ven- 
tured again to raise his head to a level with the tops of the 
bending herbage, motioning at the same time to his companions 
to maintain their positions and their silence. 

“ They are going down the swell towards the encampment,” 
he continued, in his former guarded tones ; “ no, they halt in 
the bottom, and are clustering together like deer in council. 
By the Lord, they are turning again, and we are not yet done 
with the reptiles !” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


45 


Once more he sought his friendly cover, and at the next 
instant the dark troop were to be seen riding, in a disorderly 
manner, on the very summit of the little elevation on which 
the trapper and his companions lay. It was now soon apparent 
that they had returned to avail themselves of the height of the 
ground, in order to examine the dim horizon. 

Some dismounted, while others rode to and fro, like men 
engaged in a local inquiry of much interest. Happily for the 
hidden party, the grass in which they were concealed not only 
served to screen them from the eyes of the savages, but opposed 
an obstacle to prevent their horses, which were no less rude and 
untrained than their riders, from trampling on them, in their 
irregular and wild paces. 

At length an athletic and dark-looking Indian, who, by his 
air of authority, would seem to be the leader, summoned his 
chiefs about him, to a consultation, which was held mounted. 
This body was collected on the very margin of that mass of 
herbage in which the trapper and his companions were hid. 
As the young man looked up and saw the fierce aspect of the 
group, which was increasing at each instant by the accession of 
some countenance and figure apparently more forbidding than 
any which had preceded it, he drew his rifle, by a very natural 
impulse, from beneath him, and commenced putting it in a 
state for service. The female at his side buried her face in the 
grass, by a feeling that was, possibly, quite as natural to her 
sex and habits, leaving him to follow the impulses of his hot 
blood ; but his aged and more prudent adviser whispered 
sternly in his ear — 

“ The tick of the lock is as well known to the knaves as the 
blast of a trumpet to a soldier ! — lay down the piece — lay down 
the piece — should the moon touch the barrel, it could not fail tc 
be seen by the devils, whose eyes are keener than the blackest 
snake’s ! The smallest motion, now, would be sure to bring an 
arrow among us.” 

The bee-hunter so far obeyed as to continue immovable and 
silent. But there was still sufficient light to convince his com- 


46 


THE PRAIRIE. 


panion, by the contracted brow and threatening eye of the 
young man, that a discovery would not bestow a bloodless 
victory on the savages. Finding his advice disregarded, the 
trapper took his measures accordingly, and awaited the result 
with a resignation and calmness that were characteristic of the 
individual. 

In the meantime, the Sioux (for the sagacity of the 
old man was not deceived in the character of his dangerous 
neighbors) had terminated their council, and were again dis- 
persed along the ridge of land as if they sought some hidden 
object. 

“ The imps have heard the hound !” whispered the trapper, 
“ and their ears are too true to be cheated in the distance. 
Keep close, lad, keep cloie ; down with your head to the very 
earth, like a dog that sleeps.” 

“ Let us rather take to our feet, and trust to manhood,” 
returned his impatient companion. 

He would have proceeded ; but feeling a hand laid rudely 
on his shoulder, he turned his eyes upwards, and beheld the 
dark and savage countenance of an Indian gleaming full upon 
him. Notwithstanding the surprise and the disadvantage of 
his attitude, the youth was not disposed to become a captive so 
easily. Quicker than a flash of his own gun he sprang upon 
his feet, and was throttling his opponent with a power that 
w r ould soon have terminated the contest, when he felt the arms 
of the trapper thrown around his body, confining his exertions 
by a strength very little inferior to his own. Before he had 
time to reproach his comrade for this apparent treachery, a 
dozen Sioux were around them, and the whole party were com- 
pelled to yield themselves as prisoners. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


47 


CHAPTER IV. 


“ With much more dismay 

I view the fight, than those who make the fray.” 

Merchant of Venice. 


The unfortunate bee-hunter and his companions had become 
the captives of a people who might, without exaggeration, be 
called the Ishmaelites of the American deserts. From time 
immemorial the hands of the Sioux had been turned against 
their neighbors of the prairies ; and even at this day, when the 
influence and authority of a civilized government are beginning 
to be felt around them, they are considered a treacherous and 
dangerous race. At the period of our tale the case was far 
worse ; few white men trusting themselves in the remote and 
unprotected regions where so false a tribe was known to dwell. 

Notwithstanding the peaceable submission of the trapper, ho 
was quite aware of the character of the band into whose hands 
he had fallen. It would have been difficult, however, for the 
nicest judge to have determined whether fear, policy, or resig- 
nation formed the secret motive of the old man, in permitting 
himself to be plundered as he did, without a murmur. So far 
from opposing any remonstrance to the rude and violent manner 
in which his conquerors performed the customary office, he even 
anticipated their cupidity, by tendering to the chiefs such 
articles as he thought might prove the most acceptable. On the 
other hand, Paul Hover, who had been literally a conquered 
man, manifested the strongest repugnance to submit to the 
violent liberties that were taken with his person and property. 
He even gave several exceedingly unequivocal demonstrations 
of his displeasure during the summary process, and would, 
more than once, have broken out in open and desperate 


48 


THE PRAIRIE. 


resistance, but for the admonitions and entreaties of the 
trembling girl, who clung to his side in a manner so dependent, 
as to show the youth that her hopes were now placed no less 
on his discretion, than on his disposition to serve her. 

The Indians had, however, no sooner deprived the captives o( 
their arms and ammunition, and stripped them of a few articles 
of dress of little use, and perhaps of less value, than they 
appeared disposed to grant them a respite. Business of greater 
moment pressed on their hands, and required their attention. 
Another consultation of the chiefs was convened, and it was 
apparent, by the earnest and vehement manner of the few who 
spoke, that the warriors conceived their success as yet to be far 
from complete. 

“ It will be well,” whispered the trapper, who knew enough 
of the language he heard to comprehend perfectly the subject of 
the discussion, “ if the travellers who lie near the willow brake 
are not awoke out of their sleep by a visit from these miscreants. 
They are too cunning to believe that a woman of the ‘ pale-faces ’ 
is to be found so far from the settlements, without having a 
white man’s inventions and comforts at hand.” 

“ If they will carry the tribe of wandering Ishmael to the Rocky 
Mountains,” said the young bee-hunter, laughing in his vexation 
with a sort of bitter merriment, “ I may forgive the rascals.” 

“ Paul ! Paul !” exclaimed his companion in a tone of reproach, 
“ you forget all ! Think of the dreadful consequences !” 

“ Ay, it was thinking of what you call consequences, Ellen, 
that prevented me from putting the matter, at once, to yonder 
red-devil, and making it a real knock-down and drag-out ! Old 
trapper, the sin of this cowardly business lies on your shoulders ! 
But it is no more than your daily calling, I reckon, to take 
men, as well as beasts, in snares.” 

“ I implore you, Paul, to be calm — to be patient.” 

“ Well, since it is your wish, Ellen,” returned the youth^ 
endeavoring to swallow his spleen, “ I will make the trial ; though, 
as you ought to know, it is part of the religion of a Kentuckian 
to fret himself a little at a mischance.” 


THE P R AIRIE. 


49 


“ I fear your friends in the other bottom will not escape the 
eyes of the imps !” continued the trapper, as coolly as though 
he had not heard a syllable of the intervening discourse. 
“ Ttay scent plunder ; and it would be as hard to drive a hound 
from his game, as to throw the varmints from its trail.” 

“ Is there nothing to be done ?” asked Ellen, in an imploring 
manner, which proved the sincerity of her concern. 

“ It would be an easy matter to call out, in so loud a voice as 
to make old Ishmael dream that the wolves w r ere among his 
flock,” Paul replied ; “ I can make myself heard a mile in these 
open fields, and his camp is but a short quarter from us.” 

“ And get knocked on the head for your pains,” returned the 
trapper. “ No, no ; cunning must match cunning, or the hounds 
will murder the whole family.” 

“ Murder ! no — no murder. Ishmael loves travel so well, 
there would be no harm in his having a look at the other sea, 
but the old fellow is in a bad condition to take the long jour- 
ney ! I would try a lock myself before he should be quite 
murdered.” 

“His party is strong in number, and well armed; do you 
think it will fight ?” 

“ Look here, old trapper : few men love Ishmael Bush and 
his seven sledge-hammer sons less than one Paul Hover ; but I 
scorn to slander even a Tennessee shot-gun. There is as much 
of the true stand-up courage among them, as there is in any 
family that was ever raised in Kentuck itself. They are a long- 
sided and a double-jointed breed ; and let me tell you, that he 
who takes the measure of one of them on the ground, must be 
a workman at a hug.” 

“ Hist ! The savages have done their talk, and are about to 
set their accursed devices in motion. Let us be patient ; some- 
thing may yet offer in favor of your friends.” 

“ Friends ! call none of the race a friend of mine, trapper, if 
you have the smallest regard for my affection ! What I say in 
their favor is less from love than honesty.” 

“ I did not know but the young woman was of the kin,” 

3 


50 


THE PRAIRIE. 


returned the other, a little drily — “ but no offence should be 
taken, where none was intended.” 

The mouth of Paul was again stopped by the hand of 
Ellen, who took upon herself to reply, in her conciliating tones : 
“ We should be all of a family, when it is in our power to serve 
each other. We depend entirely on your experience, honest 
old man, to discover the means to apprise our friends of their 
danger.” 

w There will be a real time of it,” muttered the bee-hunter, 
laughing, “ if the boys get at work, in good earnest, with these 
red-skins !” 

He was interrupted by a general movement which took place 
among the band. The Indians dismounted to a man, giving their 
horses in charge to three or four of the party, who were also in- 
trusted with the safe keeping of the prisoners. They then formed 
themselves in a circle around a warrior who appeared to pos- 
sess the chief authority ; and at a given signal the whole array 
moved slowly and cautiously from the centre in straight and 
consequently in diverging lines. Most of their dark forms were 
soon blended with the brown covering of the prairie ; though 
the captives, who watched the slightest movement of their 
enemies with vigilant eyes, were now and then enabled to dis- 
cern a human figure drawn against the horizon, as some one, 
more eager than the rest, rose to his greatest height in order to 
extend the limits of his view. But it was not long before even 
these fugitive glimpses of the moving and constantly increasing 
circle were lost, and uncertainty and conjecture were added to 
apprehension. In this manner passed many anxious and weary 
minutes, during the close of which the listeners expected at 
each moment to hear the whoop of the assailants and the 
shrieks of the assailed, rising together on the stillness of the 
night. But it would seem, that the search which was so evidently 
making, was without a sufficient object ; for at the expiration of 
half an hour the different individuals of the band began to 
return singly, gloomy and sullen, like men who were disap- 
pointed. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


51 


u Our time is at hand,” observed the trapper, who noted the 
smallest incident, or the slightest indication of hostility among 
the savages : “ we are now to be questioned ; and if I know 
anything of the policy of our case, I should say it would be 
wise to choose one among us to hold the discourse, in order that 
our testimony may agree. And furthermore, if an opinion from 
one as old and as worthless as a hunter of fourscore is to be 
regarded, I would just venture to say, that man should be the 
one most skilled in the natur’ of an Indian, and that he should 
also know something of their language. Are you acquainted 
with the tongue of the Siouxes, friend ?” 

“Swarm your own hive,” returned the discontented bee* 
hunter. “You are good at buzzing, old trapper, if you are 
good at nothing else.” 

“ ’Tis the gift of youth to be rash and heady,” the trapper 
calmly retorted. “ The day has been, boy, when my blood was 
like your own, too swift and too hot to run quietly in my veins. 
But what will it profit to talk of silly risks and foolish acts at 
this time of life ? A grey head should cover a brain of reason, 
and not the tongue of a boaster.” 

“ True, true,” whispered Ellen ; “ and we have other things 
to attend to now ! Here comes the Indian to put his ques- 
tions.” 

The girl, whose apprehensions had quickened her senses, was 
not deceived. She was yet speaking when a tall, half naked 
savage approached the spot where they stood, and after examin- 
ing the whole party as closely as the dim light permitted, for 
more than a minute in perfect stillness, he gave the usual salu- 
tation in the harsh and guttural tones of his own language. 
The trapper replied as well as he could, which it seems was 
sufficiently well to be understood. In order to escape the im- 
putation of pedantry we shall render the substance, and, so far 
as it is possible, the form of the dialogue that succeeded, into 
the English tongue. 

“ Have the pale-faces eaten their own buffaloes, and taken 
the skins from all their own beavers,” continued the savage, 


r, 2 


THE PRAIRIE. 


allowing the usual moment of decorum to elapse, after the 
words of greeting, before he again spoke, “ that they come to 
count how many are left among the Pawnees ?” 

“ Some of us are here to buy, and some to sell,” returned the 
trapper ; “ but none will follow, if they hear it is not safe to 
come nigh the lodge of a Sioux.” 

“ The Siouxes are thieves, and they live among the snow ; 
why do we talk of a people who are so far, when we are in the 
country of the Pawnees ?” 

“ If the Pawnees are the owners of this land, then white and 
red are here by equal right.” 

“Have not, the pale-faces stolen enough from the red men, 
that you come so far to carry a lie ? I have said that this is a 
hunting-ground of my tribe.” 

“ My right to be here is equal to your own,” the trapper 
rejoined, with undisturbed coolness ; “ I do not speak as I 
mia'ht — it is better to be silent. The Pawnees and the white 
men are brothers, but a Sioux dare not show his face in the 
village of the Loups.” 

“ The Dahcotahs are men !” exclaimed the savage, fiercely ; 
forgetting in his anger to maintain the character he had 
assumed, and using the appellation of which his nation was 
most proud ; “ the Dahcotahs have no fear ! Speak ; what 
brings you so far from the villages of the pale-faces ?” 

“ I have seen the sun rise and set on many councils, and 
have heard the words of wise men. Let your chiefs come, and 
my mouth shall not be shut.” 

“lama great chief !” said the savage, affecting an air of 
offended dignity. “Do you take me for an Assiniboiue? 
Weucha is a warrior often named, and much believed !” 

“ Am I a fool not to know a burnt-wood Teton ?” demanded 
the trapper, with a steadiness that did great credit to his nerves. 
“ Go ; it is dark, and you do not see that my head is grey !” 

The Indian now appeared convinced that he had adopted too 
shallow an artifice to deceive one so practised as the man he 
addressed, and he was deliberating what fiction he should next 


THE PRAIRIE. 


53 


invent, in order to obtain his real object, when a slight commo* 
tion among the band put an end at once to all his schemes 
Casting his eyes behind him, as if fearful of a speedy interrup- 
tion, he said, in tones much less pretending than those he had 
first resorted to — 

“ Give Weucha the milk of the Long-Knives, and he will 
sing your name in the ears of the great men of his tribe.” 

“ Go,” repeated the trapper, motioning him away, with strong 
disgust. “ Your young men are speaking of Mahtoree. My 
words are for the ears of a chief.” 

The savage cast a look on the other, which, notwithstanding 
the dim light, was sufficiently indicative of implacable hostility. 
He then stole away among his fellows, anxious to conceal the 
counterfeit he had attempted to practise, no less than the 
treachery he had contemplated against a fair division of the 
spoils, from the man named by the trapper, whom he now also 
knew to be approaching, by the manner in which his name 
passed from one to another, in the band. He had hardly dis- 
appeared before a warrior of powerful frame advanced out of the 
dark circle, and placed himself before the captives, with that high 
and proud bearing for which a distinguished Indian chief is ever 
so remarkable. He was followed by all the party, who arranged 
themselves around his person, in a deep and respectful silence. 

“The earth is very large,” the chief commenced, after a 
pause of that true dignity which his counterfeit had so miserably 
affected ; “ why can the children of my great white father 
never find room on it?” 

“ Some among them have heard that their friends in the 
prairies are in want of many things,” returned the trapper; 
“ and they have come to see if it be true. Some want, in their 
turns, what the red men are willing to sell, and they come to 
make their friends rich with powder and blankets.” 

“ Do traders cross the big river with empty hands ?” 

“ Our hands are empty because your young men thought we 
were tired, and they have lightened us of our load. They were 
mistaken ; I am old, but I am still strong.” 


54 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ It cannot be. Your load has fallen in the prairies. Show 
my young men the place, that they may pick it up before the 
Pawnees find it.” 

“ The path to the spot is crooked, and it is night. The hour 
is come for sleep,” said the trapper, with perfect composure. 
“ Bid your warriors go over yonder hill ; there is water and 
there is wood ; let them light their fires and sleep with warm 
feet. When the sun comes again I will speak to you.” 

A low murmur, but one that was clearly indicative of dis- 
satisfaction, passed among the attentive listeners, and served to 
inform the old man that he had not been sufficiently wary in 
proposing a measure that he intended should notify the travel- 
lers in the brake of the presence of their dangerous neighbors. 
Mahtoree, however, without betraying in the slightest degree 
the excitement which was so strongly exhibited by his com- 
panions, continued the discourse in the same lofty manner as 
before. 

“ I know that my friend is rich,” he said ; “ that he has many 
warriors not far off, and that horses are plentier with him than 
dogs among the red-skins.” 

“ You see my warriors and my horses.” 

“ What ! has the woman the feet of a Dahcotah, that she 
can walk for thirty nights in the prairies, and not fall ! I know 
the red men of the woods make long marches on foot, but we, 
who live where the eye cannot see from one lodge to another, 
love our horses.” 

The trapper now hesitate^ in his turn. He was perfectly 
aware that deception, if detected, might prove dangerous ; and 
for one of his pursuits and character, he was strongly troubled 
with an unaccommodating regard for the truth. But recollect- 
ing that he controlled the fate of others as well as of himself, 
he determined to let things take their course, and to permit the 
Dahcotah chief to deceive himself, if he would. 

“ The women of the Siouxes and of the white men are not 
of the same wigwam,” he answered, evasively. “ Would a 
Teton warrior make his wife greater than himself? I know he 


THE PRAIRIE, 


55 


would not ; and yet my ears have heard that there are lands 
where the councils are held by squaws.” 

Another slight movement in the dark circle apprised the 
trapper that his declaration was not received without surprise, 
if entirely without distrust. The chief alone seemed unmoved ; 
nor was he disposed to relax from the loftiness and high dignity 
of his air. 

“ My white fathers who live on the great lakes have declared,” 
he said, “ that their brothers towards the rising sun are not 
men ; and now I know they did not lie ! Go — what is a nation 
whose chief is a squaw ! Are you the dog and not the husband 
of this woman V 7 

“ I am neither. Never did I see her face before this day. 
She came into the prairies because they had told her a great 
and generous nation called the Dahcotahs lived there, and she 
wished to look on men. The women of the pale-faces, like the 
women of the Siouxes, open their eyes to see things that are 
new ; but she is poor, like myself, and she will want corn and 
bnffaloes, if you take away the little that she and her friend 
still have.” 

“ My ears listen to many wicked lies !” exclaimed the Teton 
warrior, in a voice so stern that it startled even his red auditors. 
“ Am I a woman ? Has not a Dahcotah eyes ? Tell me, white 
hunter; who are the men of your color that sleep near the 
fallen trees ?” 

As he spoke, the indignant chief pointed in the direction of 
Ishmaefs encampment, leaving the trapper no reason to doubt 
that the superior industry and sagacity of this man had effected 
a discovery which had eluded the search of the rest of his 
party. Notwithstanding his regret at an event that might 
prove fatal to the sleepers, and some little vexation at having 
been so completely outwitted in the dialogue just related, the 
old man continued to maintain his air of inflexible composure. 

« It may be true,” he answered, “ that white men are sleeping 
in the prairie. If my brother says it, it is true ; but what men 
thus trust to the generosity of the Tetons, I cannot tell. If there 


56 


THE PRAIRIE. 


be strangers asleep, send your young men to wake them up, and 
let them sav why they are here ; every pale-face has a tongue.” 

The chief shook his head with a wild and fierce smile, 
answering abruptly, as he turned away to put an end to the 
conference — • 

“The Dahcotahs are a wise race, and Mahtoree is their chief! 
He will not call to the strangers, that they may rise and speak 
to him with their carabines. He will whisper softly in their 
ears. When this is done, let the men of their own color come 
and awake them !” 

As he uttered these words, and turned on his heel, a low and 
approving laugh passed around the dark circle, which instantly 
broke its order, and followed him to a little distance from the 
stand of the captives, where those who might presume to mingle 
opinions with so great a warrior, again gathered about him in 
consultation. Weucha profited by this occasion to renew his 
importunities ; but the trapper, who had discovered how great 
a counterfeit he was, shook him off in displeasure. An end was, 
however, more effectually put to the annoyance of this malignant 
savage, by a mandate for the whole party, including men and 
beasts, to change their positions. The movement was made in 
dead silence, and with an order that would have done credit to 
more enlightened beings. A halt, however, was soon made ; 
and when the captives had time to look about them, they found 
they were in view of the low, dark outline of the copse, near 
which lay the slumbering party of Ishmael. 

Here another short but grave and deliberative consultation 
was held. 

The beasts, which seemed trained to such covert and silent 
attacks, were once more placed under the care of keepers, who, 
as before, were charged with the duty of watching the prisoners. 
The mind of the trapper was in no degree relieved from the 
uneasiness which was at each instant getting a stronger pos- 
session of him, when he found Weucha was placed nearest 
to his own person, and as it appeared by the air of triumph and 
authority he assumed, at the head of the guard also. The 


THE PRAIRIE. 


Cl 

savage, however, who doubtless had his secret instructions, was 
content, for the present, with making a significant gesture with 
his tomahawk, which menaced death to Ellen. After admonish- 
ing in this expressive manner his male captives of the fate that 
would instantly attend their female companion on the slightest 
alarm proceeding from any of the party, he was content to 
maintain a rigid silence. This unexpected forbearance on the 
part of Weucha, enabled the trapper and his two associates to 
give their undivided attention to the little that might be seen of 
the interesting movements which were passing in their front. 

Mahtoree took the entire disposition of the arrangements on 
himself. He pointed out the precise situation he wished each 
individual to occupy, like one intimately acquainted with the 
qualifications of his respective followers, and he was obeyed with 
the deference and promptitude with which an Indian warrior is 
wont to submit to the instructions of his chief in moments of 
trial. Some he despatched to the right, and others to the left. 
Each man departed with the noiseless and quick step peculiar to 
the race, until all had assumed their allotted stations, with the 
exception of two chosen warriors, who remained nigh the person 
of their leader. When the rest had disappeared, Mahtoree 
turned to these select companions, and intimated by a sign that 
the critical moment had arrived, when the enterprise he contem- 
plated was to be put in execution. 

Each man laid aside the light fowling-piece, which, under the 
name of a carabine, he carried in virtue of his rank ; and divest- 
ing himself of every article of exterior or heavy clothing, he 
stood resembling a dark and fierce looking statue, in the attitude, 
and nearly in the garb, of nature. Mahtoree assured himself of 
the right position of his tomahawk, felt that his knife was secure 
in its sheath of skin, tightened his girdle of wampum, and saw 
that the lacing of his fringed and ornamented leggings was 
secure, and likely to offer no impediment to his exertions. 
Thus prepared at all points, and ready for his desperate under- 
taking, the Teton gave the signal to proceed. 

The three advanced in a line with the encampment of the 
3 * 


58 


THE PRAIRIE. 


travellers, until, in the dim light by which they were seen, 
their dusky forms were nearly lost to the eyes of the prisoners. 
Here they paused, looking around them like men who delibe- 
rate and ponder long on the consequences before they take 
a desperate leap. Then sinking together, they became lost in 
the grass of the prairie. 

It is not difficult to imagine the distress and anxiety of 
the different spectators of these threatening movements. What- 
ever might be the reasons of Ellen for entertaining so strong- 
attachment to the family in which she has first been seen 
by the reader, the feelings of her sex, and, perhaps, some linger- 
ing seeds of kindness, predominated. More than once she felt 
tempted to brave the awful and instant danger that awaited 
such an offence, and to raise her feeble, and, in truth, impotent 
voice in warning.. So strong, indeed, and so very natural was 
the inclination, that she would most probably have put it 
into execution, but for the often-repeated, though whispered 
remonstrances of Paul Hover. In the breast of the young bee- 
hunter himself, there was a singular union of emotions. His first 
and chiefest solicitude was certainly in behalf of his gentle and 
dependent companion ; but the sense of her danger was mingled 
in the breast of the reckless woodsman, with a consciousness of 
a high and wild, and by no means an unpleasant, excite- 
ment. Though united to the emigrants by ties still less binding 
than those of Ellen, he longed to hear the crack of their rifles, 
and, had occasion offered, he would gladly have been among the 
first to rush to their rescue. There were, in truth, moments 
when he felt in his turn an impulse that was nearly resistless, to 
spring forward and awake the unconscious sleepers ; but a 
glance at Ellen would serve to recall his tottering prudence, and 
to admonish him of the consequences. The trapper alone 
remained calm and observant, as if nothing that involved his 
personal comfort or safety had occurred. His ever-moving, 
vigilant eyes, watched the smallest change, with the composure 
of one too long inured to scenes of danger to be easily moved, 
and with an expression of cool determination which denoted the 


THE PRAIRIE. 


59 


intention he actually harbored, of profiting by the smallest 
oversight on the part of the captors. 

In the meantime the Teton warriors had not been idle. 
Profiting by the high fog which grew in the bottoms, they had 
wormed their way through the matted grass, like so many 
treacherous serpents stealing on their prey, until the point 
was gained where an extraordinary caution became necessary to 
their further advance. Mahtoree alone had occasionally elevated 
his dark, grim countenance above the herbage, straining his eye- 
balls to penetrate the gloom which skirted the border of 
the brake. In these momentary glances he gained sufficient 
knowledge, added to that he had obtained in his former search, 
to be the perfect master of the position of his intended victims, 
though he was still profoundly ignorant of their numbers, and 
of their means of defence. 

His efforts to possess himself of the requisite knowledge 
concerning these two latter and essential points were, however, 
completely baffled by the stillness of the camp, which lay 
in a quiet as deep as if it were literally a place of the dead. 
Too wary and distrustful to rely, in circumstances of so 
much doubt, on the discretion of any less firm and crafty than 
himself, the Dahcotah bade his companions remain where they 
lay, and pursued the adventure alone. 

The progress of Mahtoree was now slow, and to one less 
accustomed to such a species of exercise, it would have proved 
painfully laborious. But the advance of the wily snake itself is 
not more certain or noiseless than was his approach. He drew 
his form, foot by foot, through the bending grass, pausing 
at each movement to catch the smallest sound that might 
betray any knowledge, on the part of the travellers, of his prox- 
imity. He succeeded, at length, in dragging himself out of the 
sickly light of the moon into the shadows of the brake, where 
not only his own dark person was much less liable to be seen, 
but where the surrounding objects became more distinctly visi- 
ble to his keen and active glances. 

Here the Teton paused long and wearily to make his obser- 


CO 


THE PRAIRIE. 


vations before he ventured further. His position enabled him 
to bring the whole encarapmer.t, with its tent, wagons, and 
lodges, into a dark but clearly marked profile ; furnishing a 
clue by which the practised warrior was led to a tolerably 
accurate estimate of the force he was about to encounter. Still 
an unnatural silence pervaded the spot, as if men suppressed 
even the quiet breathings of sleep, in order to render the appear- 
ance of their confidence more evident. The chief bent his head 
to the earth and listened intently. He was about to raise it 
again, in disappointment, when the long drawn and trembling 
respiration of one who slumbered imperfectly met his ear. 
The Indian was too well skilled in all the means of deception to 
become himself the victim of any common artifice. He knew 
the sound to be natural, by its peculiar quivering, and he 
hesitated no longer. 

A man of nerves less tried than those of the fierce and 
conquering Mahtoree would have been keenly sensible of all the 
haza* d he incurred. The reputation of those hardy and powerful 
white adventurers who so often penetrated the wilds inhabited 
by his people, was w r ell known to him ; but while he drew 
nigher, with the respect and caution that a brave enemy never 
fails to inspire, it was with the vindictive animosity of a red man, 
jealous and resentful of the inroads of the stranger. 

Turning from the line of his former route, the Teton dragged 
himself directly towards the margin of the thicket. When this 
material object was effected in safety, he arose to his seat, and 
took a better survey of his situation. A single moment served to 
apprise him of the place where the unsuspecting traveller lay. 
The reader will readily anticipate, that the savage had succeeded 
in gaining a dangerous proximity to one of those slothful sons 
of Ishmael who were deputed to watch over the isolated encamp- 
ment of the travellers. 

When certain that he was undiscovered, the Dahcotah raised 
his person again, and bending forward, he moved his dark 
visage above the face of the sleeper, in that sort of wanton and 
subtle manner with which the reptile is seen to play about its 


T II E PRAIRIE. 


61 


victim before it strikes. Satisfied at length, not only of the 
condition but of the character of the stranger, Mahtoree was in 
the act of withdrawing his head when a slight movement of the 
sleeper announced the symptoms of reviving consciousness. 
The savage seized the knife which hung at his girdle, and in an 
instant it was poised above the breast of the young emigrant. 
Then changing his purpose, with an action as rapid as his own 
flashing thoughts, he sank back behind the trunk of the fallen 
tree against which the other reclined, and lay in its shadow, as 
dark, as motionless, and apparently as insensible as the wood 
itself. 

The slothful sentinel opened his heavy eyes, and gazing 
upwards for a moment at the hazy heavens, he made an extraor- 
dinary exertion, and raised his powerful frame from the support 
of the log. Then he looked about him, with an air of something 
like watchfulness, suffering his dull glances to run over the 
misty objects of the encampment until they finally settled on the 
distant and dim field of the open prairie. Meeting with no- 
thino; more attractive than the same faint outlines of swell and 
interval which everywhere rose before his drowsy eyes, he 
changed his position so as completely to turn his back on his 
dangerous neighbor, and suffered his person to sink sluggishly 
down into its former recumbent attitude. A long, and, on the 
part of the Teton, an anxious and painful silence succeeded, 
before the deep breathing of the traveller again announced that 
he was indulging in his slumbers. The savage was, however, 
far too jealous of a counterfeit to trust to the first appearance of 
sleep. But the fatigues of a day of unusual toil lay too heavy 
on the sentinel to leave the other long in doubt. Still the 
motion with which Mahtoree again raised himself to his knees 
was so noiseless and guarded, that even a vigilant observer might 
have hesitated to believe he stirred. The change was, however, 
at length effected, and the Dahcotah chief then bent again over 
his enemy, without having produced a noise louder than that 
of the cotton-wood leaf which fluttered at his side in the currents 
of the passing air. 


62 


THE PRAIRIE. 


Mahtoree now felt himself master of the sleeper’s fate. At 
the same time that he scanned the vast proportions and athletic 
limbs of the youth, in that sort of admiration which physical 
excellence seldom fails to excite in the breast of a savage, he 
coolly prepared to extinguish the principle of vitality which 
could alone render them formidable. After making himself sure 
of the seat of life, by gently removing the folds of the interven- 
ing cloth, he raised his keen weapon, and was about to unite 
his strength and skill in the impending blow, when the young 
man threw his brawny arm carelessly backwards, exhibiting in 
the action the vast volume of its muscles. 

The sagacious and wary Teton paused. It struck his acute 
faculties that sleep was less dangerous to him, at that moment, 
than even death itself might prove. The smallest noise, the 
agony of struggling, with which such a frame would probably 
relinquish its hold of life, suggested themselves to his rapid 
thoughts, and were all present to his experienced senses. He 
looked back into the encampment, turned his head into the 
thicket, and glanced his glowing eyes abroad into the wild and 
silent prairies. Bending once more over the respited victim, he 
assured himself that he was sleeping heavily, and then abandoned 
his immediate purpose in obedience alone to the suggestions of 
a more crafty policy. 

The retreat of Mahtoree was as still and guarded as had been 
his approach. He now took the direction of the encampment, 
stealing along the margin of the brake, as a cover into which 
he might easily plunge at the smallest alarm. The drapery of 
the solitary hut attracted his notice in passing. After examin- 
ing the whole of its exterior, and listening with painful intensity, 
in order to gather counsel from his ears, the savage ventured to 
raise the cloth at the bottom, and to thrust his dark visage 
beneath. It might have been a minute before the Teton chief 
drew back, and seated himself with the whole of his form with- 
out the linen tenement. Here he sat, seemingly brooding over 
his discovery, for many moments, in rigid inaction. Then he 
resumed his crouching attitude, and once more projected his 


THE PRAIRIE. 


63 


visage beyond the covering of the tent. His second visit to the 
interior was longer, and, if possible, more ominous than the 
first. But it had, like everything else, its termination, and the 
savage again withdrew his glaring eyes from the secrets of the 
place. 

Mahtoree had drawn his person many yards from the spot, 
in his slow progress towards the cluster of objects which 
pointed out the centre of the position, before he again stopped. 
He made another pause, and looked back at the solitary little 
dwelling he had left, as if doubtful whether he should not 
return. But the chevaux-de-frise of branches now lay within 
reach of his arm, and the very appearance of precaution it pre- 
sented, as it announced the value of the effects it encircled, 
tempted his cupidity, and induced him to proceed. 

The passage of the savage, through the tender and brittle 
limbs of the cotton-wood, could be likened only to the sinuous 
and noiseless winding of the reptiles which he imitated. When 
he had effected his object, and had taken an instant to become 
acquainted with the nature of the localities within the inclosure, 
the Teton used the precaution to open a way through which he 
might make a swift retreat. Then raising himself on his feet, 
he stalked through the encampment, like the master of evil, 
seeking whom and what he should first devote to his fell pur- 
poses. He had already ascertained the contents of the lodge in 
which were collected the woman and her young children, and 
had passed several gigantic frames, stretched on different piles 
of brush, which happily for him lay in unconscious helplessness, 
when he reached the spot occupied by Ishmael in person. It 
could not escape the sagacity of one like Mahtoree, that he had 
now within his power the principal man among the travellers. 
He stood long hovering above the recumbent and Herculean 
form of the emigrant, keenly debating in his own mind the 
chances of his enterprise, and the most effectual means of reap- 
ing its richest harvest. 

He sheathed the knife, which, under the hasty and burning 
impulse of his thoughts, he had been tempted to draw, and was 


04 


THE PRAIRIE. 


passing on, when Islimael turned in his lair, and demanded 
roughly who was moving before his half-opened eyes. Nothing 
short of the readiness and cunning of a savage could have 
evaded the crisis. Imitating the gruff tones and nearly unin* 
telligible sounds he heard, Mahtoree threw his body heavily on 
the earth, and appeared to dispose himself to sleep. Though 
the whole movement was seen by Ishmael, in a sort of stupid 
observation, the artifice was too bold and too admirably 
executed to fail. The drowsy father closed his eyes, and slept 
heavily, with this treacherous inmate in the very bosom of his 
family. 

It was necessary for the Teton to maintain the position he 
had taken for many long and weary minutes, in order to make 
sure that he was no longer watched. Though his body lay so 
motionless, his active mind was not idle. He profited by the 
delay to mature a plan which he intended should put the whole 
encampment, including both its effects and their proprietors, 
entirely at his mercy. The instant he could do so with safety, 
the indefatigable savage was again in motion. He took his 
way towards the slight pen which contained the domestic 
animals, worming himself along the ground in his former 
subtle and guarded manner. 

The first animal he encountered among the beasts occasioned 
a long and hazardous delay. The weary creature, perhaps con- 
scious, through its secret instinct, that in the endless wastes of 
the prairies its surest protector was to be found in man, was so 
exceedingly docile as quietly to submit to the close examination 
it was doomed to undergo. The hand of the wandering Teton 
passed over the downy coat, the meek countenance, and the 
slender limbs of the gentle creature, with untiring curiosity ; 
but he finally abandoned the prize, as useless in his predatory 
expeditions, and offering too little temptation to the appetite. 
As soon, however, as he found himself amontc the beasts of bur- 
den, his gratification was extreme, and it was with difficulty 
that he restrained the customary ejaculations of pleasure that 
were more than once on the point of bursting from his lips. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


U5 

Here he lost sight of the hazards by which he had gained access 
to his dangerous position ; and the watchfulness of the wary 
and long practised warrior was momentarily forgotten in the 
exultation of the savage. 


66 


THE PRAIRIE. 


CHAPTER V. 

** Why, worthy father, what have we to lose ? 

— The law 

Protects us not. Then why should we be tender 
To let an arrogant piece of flesh threat us ! 

Play judge and executioner.'* 

Cymbelink. 


While the Teton thus enacted his subtle and characteristic 
part, not a sound broke the stillness of the surrounding prairie. 
The whole band lay at their several posts, waiting, with the 
well known patience of the natives, for the signal which was to 
summon them to action. To the eyes of the anxious spectators 
who occupied the little eminence, already described as the posi- 
tion of the captives, the scene presented the broad, solemn view 
of a waste, dimly lighted by the glimmering rays of a clouded 
moon. The place of the encampment was marked by a gloom 
deeper than that which faintly shadow r ed out the courses of the 
bottoms, and here and there a brighter streak tinged the rolling 
summits of the ridges. As for the rest, it was the deep, impos- 
ing quiet of a desert. 

But to those who so well knew how much was brooding 
beneath this mantle of stillness and night, it was a scene of 
high and wild excitement. Their anxiety gradually increased, 
as minute after minute passed away, and not the smallest sound 
of life arose out of the calm and darkness which enveloped the 
brake. The breathing of Paul grew louder and deeper, and 
more than once Ellen trembled at she knew not what, as she 
felt the quivering of his active frame, while she leaned depen- 
dency on his arm for support. 

The shallow honesty, as well as the besetting infirmity of 


THE PRAIRIE. 


67 


Weucha, have already been exhibited. The reader, therefore, 
will not be surprised to learn that he was the first to forget the 
regulations he had himself imposed. It was at the precise mo- 
ment when we left Mahtoree yielding to his nearly ungovernable 
delight, as he surveyed the number and quality of IshmaePs 
beasts of burden, that the man he had selected to watch his cap- 
tives, chose to indulge in the malignant pleasure of tormenting 
those it was his duty to protect. Bending his head nigh the ear 
of the trapper, the savage rather muttered than whispered — 

“ If the Tetons lose their great chief by the hands of the Long- 
knives,* old shall die as well as young !” 

“ Life is the gift of the Wahcondah,” was the unmoved reply. 
“ The burnt-wood warrior must submit to his laws, as well as 
his other children. Men only die when He chooses ; and no 
Dahcotah can change the hour.” 

“ Look 1” returned the savage, thrusting the blade of his knife 
before the face of his captive. “ Weucha is the Wahcondah of 
a dog.” 

The old man raised his eyes to the fierce visage of his keeper, 
and, for a moment, a gleam of honest and powerful disgust shot 
from their deep cells ; but it instantly passed away, leaving in its 
place an expression of commisseration, if not of sorrow. 

“ Why should one made in the real image of God suffer his 
natur’ to be provoked by a mere effigy of reason ?” he said in 
English, and in tones much louder than those in which Weucha 
had chosen to pitch the conversation. The latter profited by the 
unintentional offence of his captive, and, seizing him by the thin, 
grey locks, that fell from beneath his cap, was on the point of 
passing the blade of his knife in malignant triumph around their 
roots, when a long, shrill yell rent the air, and was instantly 
echoed from the surrounding waste, as if a thousand demons 
opened their throats in common at the summons. Weucha re- 
linquished his grasp, and uttered a cry of exultation. 

“ Now !” shouted Paul, unable to control his impatience any 


* The whites are so called by the Indians, from their swords. 


08 


THE PRAIRIE. 


lonorjr, “now, old Ishmael, is the time to show the native blood 
of Kentucky ! Fire low, boys — level into the swales, for the red- 
skins are settling to the very earth 1” 

His voice was, however, lost, or rather unheeded, in the midst 
of the shrieks, shouts, and yells that were, by this time, bursting 
from fifty mouths on every side of him. The guards still main- 
tained their posts at the side of the captives, but it was with that 
sort of difficulty with which steeds are restrained at the starting- 
post, when expecting the signal to commence the trial of speed. 
They tossed their arms wildly in the air, leaping up and down 
more like exulting children than sober men, and continued to 
utter the most frantic cries. 

In the midst of this tumultuous disorder a rushing sound was 
heard, similar to that which might be expected to precede the 
passage of a flight of buffaloes, and then came the flocks and 
cattle of Ishmael in one confused and frightened drove. 

“ They have robbed the squatter of his beasts !” said the at- 
tentive trapper. “The reptiles have left him as hoofless as a 
beaver !” He was yet speaking, when the whole body of the 
terrified animals rose the little acclivity, and swept by the place 
where he stood, followed by a band of dusky and demon-like 
looking figures, who pressed madly on their rear. 

The impulse was communicated to the Teton horses, long 
accustomed to sympathize in the untutored passions of their own- 
ers, and it was with difficulty that the keepers were enabled to 
restrain their impatience. At this moment, when all eyes were 
directed to the passing whirlwind of men and beasts, the trap- 
per caught the knife from 'the hands of his inattentive keeper, 
with a power that his age would have seemed to contradict, and, 
at a single blow, severed the thong of hide which connected the 
whole of the drove. The wild animals snorted with joy and ter- 
ror, and tearing the earth with their heels, they dashed away 
into the broad prairies, in a dozen different directions. 

Weucha turned upon his assailant with the ferocity and agi- 
lity of a tiger. He felt for the weapon of which he had been so 
suddenly deprived, fumbled with impotent haste for the handle 


THE PRAIRIE. 


GO 


of his tomahawk, and at the same moment glanced his eyes after 
the flying cattle, with the longings of a Western Indian. The strug- 
gle between thirst for vengeance and cupidity was severe but short. 
The latter quickly predominated in the bosom of one whose pas- 
sions were proverbially grovelling ; and scarcely a moment inter- 
vened between the flight of the animals and the swift pursuit of the 
guards. The trapper had continued calmly facing his foe, during 
the instant of suspense that succeeded his hardy act ; and now 
that Weucha was seen following his companions, he pointed after 
the dark train, saying, with his deep and nearly inaudible laugh — • 

“ Red-natur’ is red-natur’, let it show itself on a prairie or in 
a forest ! A knock on the head would be the smallest reward 
to him who would take such a liberty with a Christian sentinel ; 
but there goes the Teton after his horses as if he thought two 
legs as good as four in such a race ! And yet the imps will 
have every hoof of them afore the day sets in, because it’s rea- 
son ag’in instinct. Poor reason, I allow ; but still there is a 
great deal of the man in the Indian. Ah’s me ! your Delawares 
were the red-skins of which America might boast ; but few and 
scattered is that mighty people, now ! Well ! the traveller may 
just make his pitch where he is ; he has plenty of water, though 
natur’ has cheated him of the pleasure of stripping the ’arth of 
its lawful trees. He has seen the last of his four-footed creatures, 
or I am but little skilled in Sioux cunning.” 

“ Had we not better join the party of Ishmael ?” said the bee- 
hunter. “ There will be a regular fight about this matter, or the 
old fellow has suddenly grown chicken-hearted.” 

“ n 0 — no — n o ” hastily exclaimed Ellen. 

She was stopped by the trapper, who laid his hand gently on 
her mouth, as he answered — 

“Hist! — hist! — the sound of voices might bring us into 
danger. Is your friend,” he added, turning to Paul, “ a man of 
(spirit enough ?’ 

“ Don’t call the squatter a friend of mine !” interrupted the 
youth. “ I never yet harbored with one who could not show 
hand and seal for the land which fed him.” 


10 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ Well — well. Let it then be acquaintance. Is he a man to 
maintain his own, stoutly, by dint of powder and lead ?” 

“His own ! ay, and that which is not his own, too! Can 
you tell me, old trapper, who held the rifle that did the deed 
for the sheriff’s deputy, that thought to rout the unlawful settlers 
who had gathered nigh the Buffalo lick in old Kentucky ? I 
had lined a beautiful swarm that very day into the hol- 
low of a dead beech, and there lay the people’s officer at its 
roots, with a hole directly through the ‘ grace of God ’ which 
he carried in his jacket pocket covering his heart, as if he 
thought a bit of sheepskin was a breastplate against a squatter’s 
bullet ! Now, Ellen, you needn’t be troubled ; for it never 
strictly was brought home to him ; and there were fifty others 
who had pitched in that neighborhood with just the same au- 
thority from the law.” 

The poor girl shuddered, struggling powerfully to suppress 
the sigh which arose in spite of her efforts, as if from the very 
bottom of her heart. 

Thoroughly satisfied that he understood the character of the 
emigrants, by the short but comprehensive description conveyed 
in Paul’s reply, the old man raised no further question concern- 
ing the readiness of Ishmael to revenge his wrongs, but rather 
followed the train of thought which was suggested to his expe- 
rience, by the occasion. 

“ Each one knows the ties which bind him to his fellow-crea- 
tures best,” he answered. “ Though it is greatly to be mourned 
that color, and property, and tongue, and Taming should make 
so wide a difference in those who, after all, are but the children 
of one father ! Howsomever,” he continued, by a transition not 
a little characteristic of the pursuits and feelings of the man, “as 
this a business in which there is much more likelihood of a fight 
than need for a sermon, it is best to be prepared for what may 
follow. — Hush ! there is a movement below ; it is an equal 
chance that we are seen.” 

“ The family is stirring,” cried Ellen, with a tremor that an- 
nounced nearly as much terror at the approach of her friends, as 


THE PRAIRIE. 7l 

she had before manifested at the presence of her enemies. “ Go, 
Paul, leave me. Pow, at least, must not be seen !” 

If I leave you, Ellen, in this desert, before I see you safe in 
the care of old Ishmael at least, may I never hear the hum of 
another bee, or what is worse, fail in sight to line him to his hive !** 

“ You forget this good old man. He will not leave me. 
Though I am sure, Paul, we have parted before, where there has 
oeen more of a desert than this.” 

“ Never ! These Indians may come whooping back, and then 
where are you ! Half way to the Rocky Mountains before a 
man can fairly strike the line of your flight. What think you, 
old trapper ? How long may it be before these Tetons, as you 
call them, will be coming for the rest of old Ishmael’s goods and 
chattels ?” 

“ No fear of them,” returned the old man, laughing in his 
own peculiar and silent manner ; “I warrant me the devils will 
be scampering after their beasts these six hours yet ! Listen ! you 
may hear them in the willow bottoms at this very moment ; ay, 
your real Sioux cattle will run like so many long-legged elks. 
Hist ! crouch again into the grass, down with ye both ; as I’m a 
miserable piece of clay, I heard the clicking of a gun-lock !” 

The tapper did not allow his companions time to hesitate, but 
dragging them both after him, he nearly buried his own person 
in the fog of the prairie, while he was speaking. It was for- 
tunate that the senses of the aged hunter remained so acute, and 
that he had lost none of his readiness of action. The three 
were scarcely bowed to the ground, when their ears were saluted 
with the well known, sharp, short reports of the western rifle, 
and instantly, the whizzing of the ragged lead was heard, buzz- 
ing within dangerous proximity of their heads. 

“ Well done, young chips ! well done, old block !” whispered 
Paul, whose spirits no danger nor situation could entirely de- 
press. il As pretty a volley as one would wish to hear on the 
wrong end of a rifle ! What d’ye say, trapper ! here is likely 
to be a three-cornered war. Shall I give ’em as good as they 
send ?” 


72 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ Give them nothing but fair words,” returned the other, has- 
tily, “ or you are both lost ” 

“ I’m not certain it would much mend the matter, if I were 
to speak with my tongue instead of the piece,” said Paul, in a 
tone half jocuiar, half bitter. 

. “ For the sake of heaven, do not let them hear you !” cried 
Ellen. “ Go, Paul, go ; you can easily quit us now !” 

Several shots in quick succession, each sending its dangerous 
messenger still nearer than the preceding discharge, cut short 
her speech, no less in prudence than in terror. 

“This must end,” said the trapper, rising with the dignity of 
one bent only on the importance of his object. “ I know not 
what need ye may have, children, to fear those you should 
both love and honor, but something must be done to save your 
lives. A few hours more or less can never be missed from the 
time of one who has already numbered so many days'; there- 
fore, I will advance. Here is a clear space around you. Profit 
by it as you need, and may God bless and prosper each of you, 
as ye deserve.” 

Without waiting for any reply, the trapper walked boldly 
down the declivity in his front, taking the direction of the encamp- 
ment, neither quickening his pace in trepidation, nor suffering 
it to be retarded by fear. The light of the moon fell brighter 
for a moment on his tall, gaunt form, and served to warn the 
emigrants of his approach. Indifferent, however, to this unfa- 
vorable circumstance, he held his way silently and steadily to- 
wards the copse, until a threatening voice met him with the 
challenge of — 

“ Who comes ; friend or foe ?” 

“Friend,” was the reply; “one who has lived too long to 
disturb the close of life with quarrels.” 

“ But not so long as to forget the tricks of his youth,” said 
Ishmael, rearing his huge frame from beneath the slight cover- 
ing of a low bush, and meeting the trapper face to face ; “ old 
man, you have brought this tribe of red devils upon us, and to- 
morrow you will be sharing the booty.” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


13 


u What have you lost ?” calmly demanded the trapper. 

“ Eight as good mares as ever travelled in gears, besides a 
foal that is worth thirty of the brightest Mexicans that bear the 
face of the King of Spain. Then the woman has not a cloven 
hoof for her dairy or her loom, and I believe even the grunters, 
foot sore as they be, are ploughing the prairie. And now, 
stranger,” he added, dropping the butt of his rifle on the hard 
earth, with a violence and a clatter that would have intimidated 
one less firm than the man head dressed, “ how many of these 
creatures may fall to your lot ?” 

“ Horses have I never craved, nor even used ; though few 
have journeyed over more of the wide lands of America than 
myself, old and feeble as I seem. But little use is there for a 
horse among the hills and woods of York — that is, as York was, 
but as I greatly fear York is no longer — as for woollen covering 
and cow’s milk, I covet no such womanly fashions ! The beasts 
of the field give me food and raiment. No, I crave no cloth 
better than the skin of a deer, nor any meat richer than his 
flesh.” 

The sincere manner of the trapper, as he uttered this simple 
vindication, was not entirely thrown away on the emigrant, 
whose dull nature was gradually quickening into a flame that 
might speedily have burst forth with dangerous violence. He 
listened like one who doubted, though not entirely convinced ; 
and he muttered between his teeth the denunciation, with which 
a moment before he intended to precede the summary vengeance 
he had certainly meditated. 

“ This is brave talking,” he at length grumbled ; “ but, to my 
judgment, too lawyer-like, for a straightforward, fair-weather 
and foul- weather hunter.” 

« X claim to be no better than a trapper,” the other meekly 
answered. 

« Hunter or trapper — there is little difference. I have come, 
old man, into these districts, because I found the law sitting too 
tight upon me, and am not over fond of neighbors who can’t 
settle a dispute without troubling a justice and twelve men; 

4 


74 


THE PRAIRIE 


but I didn’t come to be robbed of my plunder, and then to say 
thank’ee to the man who did it !” 

“ He who ventures far into the prairie, must abide by the 
ways of its owners.” 

“ Owners !” echoed the squatter, “ I am as rightful an owner 
of the land I stand on, as any governor of the States ! Can you 
tell me, stranger, where the law or the reason is to be found, 
which says that one man shall have a section, or a town, or per- 
haps a county to his use, and another have to beg for earth to 
make his grave in ? This is not nature, and I deny that it is 
law. That is, your legal law.” 

“ I cannot say that you are wrong,” returned the trapper, 
whose opinions on this important topic, though drawn from very 
different premises, were in singular accordance with those of his 
companion, “ and I have often thought and said as much, when 
and where I have believed my voice could be heard. But your 
beasts are stolen by them who claim to be masters of all they 
find in the deserts.” 

“ They had better not dispute that matter with a man who 
knows better,” said the other in a portentous voice, though it 
seemed deep and sluggish as he who spoke. “ I call myself a 
fair trader, and one who gives to his chaps as good as he receives. 
You saw the Indians 2” 

“ I did — they held me a prisoner, while they stole into your 
camp.” 

“ It would have been more like a white man and a Christian, 
to let me have known as much in better season,” retorted Ish- 
mael, casting another ominous sidelong glance at the trapper, as 
if still meditating evil. “ I am not much given to call every 
man I fall in with cousin, but color should be something, when 
Christians meet in such a place as this. But what is done, is 
done, and cannot be mended by words. Come out of your 
ambush, boys ; here is no one but the old man : he has eaten 
of my bread, and should be our friend ; though there is such 
good reason to suspect him of harboring with our enemies.” 

The trapper made no reply to the harsh suspicion which the 


THE PRAIRIE. 


1 5 


other did not scruple to utter without the smallest delicacy, 
notwithstanding the explanations and denials to which he had 
just listened. The summons of the unnurtured squatter brought 
an immediate accession to their party. Four or five of his sons 
made their appearance from beneath as many covers, where 
they had been posted, under the impression that the figures 
they had seen, on the swell of the prairie, were a part of the 
Sioux band. As each man approached, and dropped his rifle 
into the hollow of his arm, he cast an indolent but inquiring 
glance at the stranger, though none of them expressed the 
least curiosity to know whence he had come or why he was 
there. This forbearance, however, proceeded only in part from 
the sluggishness of their common temper ; for long and frequent 
experience in scenes of a similar character had taught them the 
virtue of discretion. The trapper endured their sullen scrutiny 
with the steadiness of one as practised as themselves, and with 
the entire composure of innocence. Content with the moment- 
ary examination he had made, the eldest of the group, who was 
in truth the delinquent sentinel by whose remissness the wily 
Mahtoree had so well profited, turned towards his father, and 
said bluntly — 

“ If this man is all that is left of the party I saw on the up- 
land, yonder, we haven’t altogether thrown away our ammuni- 
tion.” 

“ Asa, you are right,” said the father, turning suddenly on 
the trapper, a lost idea being recalled by the hint of his son. 
“ How is it, stranger ; there were three of you, just now, or 
there is no virtue in moonlight ?” 

“ If you had seen the Tetons racing across the prairies, like 
so many black-looking evil ones, on the heels of your cattle, my 
friend, it would have been an easy matter to have fancied them 
a thousand.” 

“ Ay, for a town bred boy or a skeary woman ; though, for 
that matter, there is old Esther ; she has no more fear of a red- 
skin than of a suckling cub or of a wolf pup. I’ll warrant ye, 
had your thievish devils made their push by the light of the 


76 


THE PRAIRIE. 


sun, the good woman would have been smartly at work among 
them, and the Siouxes would have found she was not given to 
part with her cheese and her butter without a price. But 
there’ll come a time, stranger, right soon, when justice will have 
its dues, and that, too, without the help of what is called the law. 
We ar’ of a slow breed, it may be said, and it is often said, of 
us ; but slow is sure ; and there ar’ few men living who can say 
they ever struck a blow, that they did not get one as hard in 
return, from Ishraael Bush.” 

“ Then has Ishmael Bush followed the instinct of the beasts, 
rather than the principle which ought to belong to his kind,” 
returned the stubborn trapper. “ I have struck many a blow 
myself, but never have I felt the same ease of mind that of right 
belongs to a man who follows his reason, after slaying even a 
fawn when there was no call for his meat or hide, as I have felt 
at leaving a Mingo unburied in the woods, when following the 
trade of open and honest warfare.” 

“ What, you have been a soldier have you, trapper ! I made 
a forage or two among the Cherokees, when I was a lad, my- 
self; and I followed mad Anthony,* one season, through the 
beeches ; but there was altogether too much tattooing and 
regulating among his troops for me; so I left him, without 
calling on the paymaster to settle my arrearages. Though, as 
Esther afterwards boasted, she had made such use of the pay- 
ticket, that the States gained no great sum by the oversight. 
You have heard of such a man as mad Anthony, if you tarried 
long among the soldiers.” 

“ I fou’t my last battle, as I hope, under his orders,” returned 
the trapper, a gleam of sunshine shooting from his dim eyes, as 
if the event was recollected with pleasure, and then a sudden 
shade of sorrow succeeding, as though he felt a secret admoni- 

* Anthony Wayne, a Pennsylvanian distinguished in the war of the revolution, 
and subsequently against the Indians of the west, for his daring as a general, by 
which he gained from his followers the title of Mad Anthony. General Wayne was 
the son of the person mentioned in the life of West, as commanding the regiment 
which excited his military ardor. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


77 


lion against dwelling on the violent scenes in which he had so 
often been an actor. “ I was passing from the States on the 
sea-shore into these far regions, when I crossed the trail of his 
army, and I fell in, on his rear, just as a looker-on ; but when 
they got to blows, the crack of my rifle was heard among the 
rest, though to my shame it may be said, I never knew the right of 
the quarrel, as well as a man of threescore and ten should know 
the reason of his acts afore he takes mortal life, which is a gift 
he never can return !” 

“ Come, stranger,” said the emigrant, his rugged nature a 
good deal softened when he found that they had fought on the 
same side in the wild warfare of the west, “ it is of small account 
what may be the ground-work of the disturbance, when it’s a 
Christian ag’in a savage. We shall hear more of this horse- 
stealing to-morrow ; to-night we can do no wiser or safer thing 
than to sleep.” 

So saying, Ishmael deliberately led the way back towards his 
rifled encampment, and ushered the man, whose life a few 
minutes before had been in real jeopardy from his resentment, 
into the presence of his family. Here, with a very few words 
of explanation, mingled with scarce but ominous denunciations 
against the plunderers, he made his wife acquainted with the 
state of things on the prairie, and announced his own determina- 
tion to compensate himself for his broken rest, by devoting the 
remainder of the night to sleep. 

The trapper gave his ready assent to the measure, and adjusted 
his gaunt form on the pile of brush that was offered him, with 
as much composure as a sovereign could resign himself to sleep, 
in the security of his capital, and surrounded by his armed pro- 
tectors. The old man did not close his eyes, however, until he 
had assured himself that Ellen Wade was among the females of 
the family, and that her relation, or lover, whichever he might 
be, had observed the caution of keeping himself out of view ; 
after which he slept, though with the peculiar watchfulness of 
one long accustomed to vigilance, even in the hours of deepest 
night. 


78 


THE PRAIRIE. 


CHAPTER VI. 


“ He is too picked, too spruce, too affected, too odd, 

As it were too peregrinate, as I may call it.” 

Shakspearb. 

The Anglo-American is apt to boast, and not without reason, 
that his nation may claim a descent more truly honorable than 
that of any other people whose history is to be credited. 
Whatever might have been the weaknesses of the original 
colonists, their virtues have rarely been disputed. If they were 
superstitious, they were sincerely pious, and, consequently, 
honest. The descendants of these simple and single-minded 
provincials have been content to reject the ordinary and artifi- 
cial means by which honors have been perpetuated in families, 
and have substituted a standard which brings the individual 
himself to the ordeal of the public estimation, paying as little 
deference as may be to those who have gone before him. 
This forbearance, self-denial, or common sense, or by whatever 
term it may be thought proper to distinguish the measure, has 
subjected the nation to the imputation of having an ignoble 
origin. Were it worth the inquiry, it would be found that 
more than a just proportion of the renowned names of the 
mother-country are, at this hour, to be found in her ci-devant 
colonies ; and it is a fact well known to the few who have 
wasted sufficient time to become the masters of so unimportant 
a subject, that the direct descendants of many a failing line, 
which the policy of England has seen fit to sustain by collateral 
supporters, are now discharging the simple duties of citizens in 
the bosom of this republic. The hive has remained stationary, 
and they who flutter around the venerable straw are wont to 


THE PRAIRIE. 


79 


claim the empty distinction of antiquity, regardless alike of the 
frailty of their tenement and of the enjoyments of the numerous 
and vigorous swarms that are culling the fresher sweets of a 
virgin world. But as this is a subject which belongs rather to 
the politician and historian than to the humble narrator of the 
home-bred incidents we are about to reveal, we must confine our 
reflections to such matters as have an immediate relation to the 
subject of the tale. 

Although the citizen of the United States may claim so just 
an ancestry, he is far from being exempt from the penalties of 
his fallen race. Like causes are well known to produce like 
effects. That tribute, which it would seem nations must ever pay, 
b} r way of a weary probation, around the shrine of Ceres, before 
they can be indulged in her fullest favors, is in some measure 
exacted in America, from the descendant instead of the ances- 
tor. The march of civilization with us, has a strong analogy to 
that of all coming events, which are known “ to cast their sha- 
dows before.” The gradations of society, from that state which 
is called refined to that which approaches as near barbarity as 
connexion with an intelligent people will readily allow, are to 
be traced from the bosom of the States, where wealth, luxury, 
and the arts are beginning to seat themselves, to those distant 
and ever-receding borders which mark the skirts and announce 
the approach of the nation, as moving mists precede the signs of 
the day. 

Here, and here only, is to be found that widely spread, though 
far from numerous class, which may be at all likened to those 
who have paved the way for the intellectual progress of nations, 
in the old world. The resemblance between the American bor- 
derer and his European prototype is singular, though not al- 
ways uniform. Both might be called without restraint, tho 
one being above, the other beyond the reach of the law— brave, 
because they were inured to danger — proud, because they were 
independent— and vindictive, because each was the avenger of his 
own wrongs. It would be unjust to the borderer to pursue the 
parallel much fnrther. He is irreligious, because he has inlie- 


80 


THE PRAIRIE. 


rited the knowledge that religion does not exist in forms, and his 
reason rejects mockery. He is not a knight, because he has not 
the power to bestow distinctions ; and lie has not the pow'er, 
because he is the offspring and not the parent of a system. In 
what manner these several qualities are exhibited, in some of the 
most strongly marked of the latter class, will be seen in the 
course of the ensuing narrative. 

Ishmael Bush had passed the whole of a life of more than 
fifty years on the skirts of society. He boasted that he had 
never dwelt where he might not safely fell every tree he could 
view from his own threshold ; that the law had rarely been 
known to enter his clearing ; and that his ears had never wil- 
lingly admitted the sound of a church bell. His exertions sel- 
dom exceeded his wants, which were peculiar to his class, and 
rarely failed of being supplied. He had no respect for any 
learning, except that of the leech ; because he was ignorant of 
the application of any other intelligence than such as met the 
senses. His deference to this particular branch of science had 
induced him to listen to the application of a medical man, whose 
thirst for natural history had led him to the desire of profiting 
by the migratory propensities of the squatter. This gentleman 
he had cordially received into his family, or rather under his 
protection, and they had journeyed together thus far through 
the prairies, in perfect harmony : Ishmael often felicitating his 
wife on the possession of a companion, who would be so service- 
able in their new abode, wherever it might chance to be, until the 
family were thoroughly “ acclimated.” The pursuits of the natu- 
ralist frequently led him, however, for days at a time, from the 
direct line of the route of the squatter who rarely seemed to have 
any other guide than the sun. Most men would have deemed 
themselves fortunate to have been absent on the perilous occasion 
of the Sioux inroad, as was Obed Bat (or, as he w*as fond of 
hearing himself called, Battius,) M. D. and fellow of several cis- 
Atlantic learned societies — the adventurous gentleman in question. 

Although the sluggish nature of Ishmael was not actually 
awakened, it was sorely pricked by the liberties which had just 


THE PRAIRIE. 


81 


been taken with his property. He slept, however, for it was the 
hour he had allotted to that refreshment, and because he knew 
how impotent any exertions to recover his effects must prove in 
the darkness of midnight. He also knew the danger of his pre- 
sent position too well to hazard what was left in pursuit of that 
which was lost. Much as the inhabitants of the prairie were 
known to love horses, their attachment to many other articles, 
still in the possession of the travellers, was equally well under- 
stood. It was a common artifice to scatter the herds, and to 
profit by the confusion. But Mahtoree had, as it would seem, 
in this particular, undervalued the acuteness of the man he had 
assailed. The phlegm with which the squatter learned his loss, 
has already been seen ; and it now remains to exhibit the results 
of his more matured determinations. 

Though the encampment contained many an eye that was 
long unclosed, and many an ear that listened greedily to catch 
the faintest evidence of any new alarm, it lay in deep quiet 
during the remainder of the night. Silence and fatigue finally 
performed their accustomed offices, and before morning all but 
the sentinels were again buried in sleep. How well these indo- 
lent watchers discharged their duties after the assault has never 
been known, inasmuch as nothing occurred to confirm or to dis- 
prove their subsequent vigilance. 

Just as day, however, began to dawn, and a grey light was 
falling from the heavens on the dusky objects of the plain, the 
half startled, anxious, and yet blooming countenance of Ellen 
Wade was reared above the confused mass of children, among 
whom she had clustered on her stolen return to camp. Arising 
warily, she stepped lightly across the recumbent bodies, and 
proceeded with the same caution to the utmost limits of the 
defences of Ishmael. Here she listened, as if doubting the pro- 
priety of venturing further. The pause was only momentary, 
however ; and long before the drowsy eyes of the sentinel, who 
overlooked the spot where she stood, had time to catch a glimpse 
of her active form, it had glided along the bottom, and stood on 
the summit of the nearest eminence. 

4 * 


82 


THE PRAIRIE. 


Ellen now listened, intently anxious to catch some other 
sound than the breathings of the morning air, which faintly 
rustled the herbage at her feet. She was about to turn in dis- 
appointment from the inquiry, when the tread of human feet 
making their way through the matted grass, met her ear. 
Springing eagerly forward, she soon beheld the outlines of a 
figure advancing up the eminence, on the side opposite to the 
camp. She had already uttered the name of Paul, and was 
beginning to speak in the hurried and eager voice with which 
female affection is apt to greet a friend, when, drawing back, the 
disappointed girl closed her salutation by coldly adding — 

“ I did not expect, Doctor, to meet you at this unusual hour.” 

“ All hours and all seasons are alike, my good Ellen, to the 
genuine lover of nature,” — returned a small, slightly made, but 
exceedingly active man, dressed in an odd mixture of cloth and 
skins, a little past the middle age, and who advanced directly to 
her side, with the familiarity of an old acquaintance ; “ and he 
who does not know how to find things to admire by this grey 
light, is ignorant of a large portion of the blessings he enjoys.” 

“ Very true,” said Ellen, suddenly recollecting the necessity 
of accounting for her own appearance abroad at that unseason- 
able hour ; “ I know many who think the earth has a pleasanter 
look in the night, than when seen by the brightest sunshine.” 

“ Ah ! Their organs of sight must be too convex ! But the 
man who wishes to study the active habits of the feline race, or 
the variety albinos, must indeed be stirring at this hour. I 
dare say there are men who prefer even looking at objects by 
twilight, for the simple reason that they see better at that time 
of the day.” 

“ And is this the cause why you are so much abroad in the 
night?” 

“ 1 am abroad at night, my good girl, because the earth in its 
diurnal revolutions leaves the light of the sun but half the time 
on any given meridian, and because what I have to do cannot 
be performed in twelve or fifteen consecutive hours. Now have 
I been off two days from the family, in search of a plant that 


THE PRAIRIE. 


83 


is known to exist on the tributaries of La Platte, without see- 
ing even a blade of grass that is not already enumerated and 
classed.” 

“ You have been unfortunate, Doctor, but — ” 

“ Unfortunate !” echoed the little man, sidling nigher to his 
companion, and producing his tablets with an air in which 
exultation struggled strangely with an affectation of self-abase- 
ment. “ No, no, Ellen, I am anything but unfortunate ! Un- 
less, indeed, a man may be so called, whose fortune is made, 
whose fame may be said to be established for ever, whose name 
will go down to posterity with that of Buffon. — Buffon ! a mere 
compiler ; one who flourishes on the foundation of other men’s 
labors. No ; pari passu with Solander, who bought his know- 
ledge with pain and privations.” 

“ Have you discovered a mine, Doctor Bat ?” 

“ More than a mine ; a treasure coined, and fit for instant 
use, girl. — Listen ! I was making the angle necessary to inter- 
sect the line of your uncle’s march after my fruitless search, when 

I heard sounds like the explosion produced by firearms ” 

“ Yes,” exclaimed Ellen, eagerly, “ we had an alarm — ” 

“And thought I was lost,” continued the man of science, too 
much bent on his own ideas to understand her interruption. 
“ Little danger of that ! I made my own base, knew the length 
of the perpendicular by calculation, and to draw the hypothenuse 
had nothing to do but to work my angle. I supposed the guns 
were fired for my benefit, and changed my course for the sounds 
— not that I think the senses more accurate, or even as accurate 
as a mathematical calculation, but I feared that some of the 
children might need my services.” 

“ They are all happily ” 

“ Listen,” interrupted the other, already forgetting his affected 
anxiety for his patients, in the greater importance of the present 
subject. “ I had crossed a large tract of prairie — for sound is 
conveyed far where there is little obstruction — when I heard the 
trampling of feet, as if bisons were beating the earth. Then I 
caught a distant view of a herd of quadrupeds, rushing up and 


84 


THE PRAIRIE. 


down the swells — animals, which would have still remained 
unknown and undescribed, had it not been for a most felicitous 
accident ! One, and he a noble specimen of the whole ! was 
running a little apart from the rest. The herd made an indina- 
tion in my direction, in which the solitary animal coincided, and 
this brought him within fifty yards of the spot where I stood. 
I profited by the opportunity, and by the aid of steel and taper, 
I wrote his description on the spot. I would have given a 
thousand dollars, Ellen, for a single shot from the rifle of one 
of the boys !” 

“ You carry a pistol, Doctor, why didn’t you use it ?” said the 
half inattentive girl, anxiously examining the prairie, but still 
lingering where she stood, quite willing to be detained. 

“ Ay, but it carries nothing but the most minute particles of 
lead, adapted to the destruction of the larger insects and reptiles. 
No, I did better than to attempt waging, a war in which I could 
not be the victor. I recorded the event ; noting each particular 
with the precision necessary to science. You shall hear, Ellen ; 
for you are a good and improving girl, and by retaining what 
you learn in this way, may be yet of great service to learning, 
should any accident occur to me. Indeed, my worthy Ellen, mine 
is a pursuit which has its dangers as well as that of the warrior. 
This very night,” he continued, glancing his eyes behind him, 
“ this awful night, has the principle of life itself been in great 
danger of extinction !” 

“ By what ?” 

“ By the monster I have discovered. Tt approached me often, 
and ever as I receded, it continued to advance. I believe no- 
thing but the little lamp I carried was my protector. 1 kept it 
between us whilst I wrote, making it serve the double purpose 
of luminary and shield. But you shall hear the character of the 
beast, and you may then judge of the risks we promoters of 
science run in behalf of mankind.” 

The naturalist raised his tablets to the heavens, and disposed 
himself to read as well as he could, by the dim light they yet 
shed upon the plain, premising with saying — 


THE PRAIRIE. 


85 


w Listen, girl, and you shall hear with what a treasure it has 
been my happy lot to enrich the pages of natural history !” 

•‘Is it then a creature of your forming?” said Ellen, turning 
away from her fruitless examination, with a sudden liohtino- of 
her sprightly blue eyes, that showed she knew how to play with 
the foible of her learned companion. 

“ Is the power to give life to inanimate matter the gift of man ? 
I would it were ! You should speedily see a Historia Naturalis 
Americana, that would put the sneering imitators of the French- 
man, De Buffon, to shame ! A great improvement might be 
made in the formation of all quadrupeds ; especially those in 
which velocity is a virtue. Two of the inferior limbs should be 
on the principle of the lever ; wheels perhaps as they are now 
formed ; though I have not yet determined whether the improve- 
ment might better be applied to the anterior or posterior mem- 
bers, inasmuch as I am yet to learn whether dragging or shov- 
ing requires the greatest muscular exertion. A natural exudation 
of the animal might assist in overcoming the friction, and a 
powerful momentum be obtained. But all this is hopeless — at 
least for the present !” — he added, raising his tablets again to 
the light, and reading aloud ; “Oct. 6, 1805, that’s merely the 
date, which I dare say you know better than I — mem. Quad- 
ruped ; seen by star-light, and by the aid of a pocket-lamp, in 
the prairies of North America — see Journal for latitude and 
meridian. Genus — unknown ; therefore named after the dis- 
coverer, and from the happy coincidence of having been seen in 
the evening — Vespertilio Horribilis , Americanus. Dimensions 
(by estimation) — Greatest length, eleven feet ; height, six feet ; 
head, erect ; nostrils, expansive ; eyes, expressive aud fierce ; 
teeth , serrated and abundant; tail, horizontal, waving, and 
slightly feline ; feet , large and hairy ; talons, long, curvated, 
dangerous ; ears, inconspicuous ; horns, elongated, diverging, 
and formidable ; color, plumbeous-ashy with fiery spots ; voice , 
sonorous, martial, and appalling ; habits , gregarious, carnivorous, 
fierce, and fearless. There,” exclaimed Obed, when he had 
ended this sententious but comprehensive description, “ there is 


86 


THE PRAIRIE. 


an animal, which will be likely to dispute with the lion his 
title to be called the king of the beasts !” 

“ I know not the meaning of all you have said, Doctor Battius, w 
returned the quick-witted girl, who understood the weakness of 
the philosopher, and often indulged him with a title he loved so 
well to hear ; “ but I shall think it dangerous to venture far 
from the camp, if si ch monsters are prowling over the prairies.” 

“ You may well call it prowling,” returned the naturalist, 
nestling still closer to her side, and dropping his voice to such 
low and undignified tones of confidence, as conveyed a meaning 
still more pointed than he had intended. “ I have never before 
experienced such a trial of the nervous system ; there was a 
moment, I acknowledge, when the fortiter in re faltered before 
so terrible an enemy ; but the love of natural science bore me 
up and brought me off in triumph !” 

“You speak a language so different from that we use in 
Tennessee,” said Ellen, struggling to conceal her laughter, “ that 
I hardly know whether I understand your meaning. If I am 
right, you wish to say you were chicken-hearted.” 

“ An absurd simile drawn from the ignorance of the formation 
of the biped. The heart of a chicken has a just proportion to 
its other organs, and the domestic fowl is, in a state of nature, a 
gallant bird. Eden,” he added, with a countenance so solemn 
as to produce an impression on the attentive girl, “ I was pur- 
sued, hunted, and in a danger that I scorn to dwell on — what’s 
that ?” 

Ellen started ; for the earnestness and simple sincerity of her 
companion’s manner had produced a certain degree of credulity, 
even on her buoyant mind. Looking in the direction indicated 
by the Doctor, she beheld, in fact, a beast coursing over the 
prairie, and making a straight and rapid approach to the spot 
they occupied. The day was not yet sufficiently advanced to 
enable her to distinguish its form and character, though enough 
was discernible to induce her to imagine it a fierce and savage 
animal. 

“ It comes ! it comes !” exclaimed the Doctor, fumbling, by a 


THE PRAIRIE. 


87 


sort of instinct, for his tablets, while he fairly tottered on his 
feet under the powerful efforts he made to maintain his ground. 
“ Now, Ellen, has fortune given me an opportunity to correct 
the errors made by star-light, — hold, — ashy-plumbeous, — nc 
ears, — horns, excessive.” His voice and hand were both arrested 
by a roar, or rather a shriek, from the beast, that was sufficiently 
terrific to appal even a stouter heart than that of the naturalist. 
The cries of the animal passed over the prairie in strange cadences, 
and then succeeded a deep and solemn silence, that was only 
broken by an uncontrolled fit of merriment from the more musical 
voice of Ellen Wade. In the meantime the naturalist stood 
like a statue of amazement, permitting a well-grown ass, against 
whose approach he no longer offered his boasted shield of light, 
to smell about his person, without comment or hinderance. 

“ It is your own ass,” cried Ellen, the instant she found 
breath for words ; “ your own patient, hard working hack ! ” 

The Doctor rolled his eyes from the beast to the speaker, 
and from the speaker to the beast ; but gave no audible expres- 
sion of his wonder. 

“ Do you refuse to know an animal that has labored so long 
in your service ?” continued the laughing girl. “ A beast, that 
I have heard you say a thousand times, has served you well, 
and whom you loved like a brother ! ” 

“ Asinus Doraesticus ! ” ejaculated the Doctor, drawing his 
breath like one who had been near suffocation. “ There is no 
doubt of the genus ; and I will always maintain that the animal 
is not of the species equus. This is undeniably Asinus himself, 
Ellen Wade; but this is not the Vespertilio Horribilis of the 
prairies ! Very different animals I can assure you, young woman, 
and differently characterized in every important particular. 
That, carnivorous,” he continued, glancing his eye at the open 
page of his tablets ; “ this, granivorous ; habits , fierce, dangerous ; 
habits , patient, abstemious ; ears , inconspicuous ; ears , elongated ; 
horns, diverging, <fcc. ; horns , none ! ” 

He was interrupted by another burst of merriment from Ellen, 
which served in some measure to recall him to his recollection. 


88 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“The image of the Vespertilio was on the retina,” the 
astounded inquirer into the secrets of nature observed, in a 
manner that seemed a little apologetic, “ and I was silly enough 
to mistake my own faithful beast for the monster. Though 
even now I greatly marvel to see this animal running at 
large !” 

Ellen then proceeded to explain the history of the attack and 
its results. She described, with an accuracy that might have 
raised suspicions of her own movements in the mind of one less 
simple than her auditor, the manner in which the beasts burst 
out of the encampment, and the headlong speed with which 
they had dispersed themselves over the open plain. Although 
she forbore to say as much in terms, she so managed as to 
present before the eyes of her listener the strong probability of 
having mistaken the frightened drove for savage beasts, and 
then terminated her account by a lamentation for their loss, and 
some very natural remarks on the helpless condition in which it 
had left the family. The naturalist listened in silent wonder, 
neither interrupting her narrative, nor suffering a single excla- 
mation of surprise to escape him. The keen-eyed girl, however, 
saw that as she proceeded, the important leaf was torn from the 
tablets, in a manner which showed that their owner had got rid 
of his delusion at the same instant. From that moment the 
world has heard no more of the Vespertilio Horribilis Ameri- 
canus, and the natural sciences have irretrievably lost an impor- 
tant link in that great animated chain which is said to connect 
earth and heaven, and in which man is thought to be so fami- 
liarly complicated with the monkey. 

When Dr. Bat was put in full possession of all the circum- 
stances of the inroad, his concern immediately took a different 
direction. He had left sundry folios, and certain boxes well 
stored with botanical specimens and defunct animals, under the 
good keeping of Ishmael, and it immediately struck his acute 
mind, that marauders as subtle as the Siouxes would never 
neglect the opportunity to despoil him of these treasures. 
Nothing that Ellen could say to the contrary served to appease 


the prairie. 


89 


his apprehensions, and, consequently, they separated ; he to 
relieve . his doubts and fears together, and she to glide, as 
swiftly and silently as she had just before passed it, into the still 
and solitary tent. 


90 


THE PRAIRIE. 


CHAPTER VII. 


What fifty of my followers, at a clap ! 

Lear. 


The day had now fairly opened on the seemingly intermi- 
nable waste of the prairie. The entrance of Obed at such a 
moment into the camp, accompanied as it was by vociferous 
lamentations over his anticipated loss, did not fail to rouse the 
drowsy family of the squatter. Ishmael and his sons, together 
with the forbidding-looking brother of his wife, were all speedily 
afoot ; and then, as the sun began to shed his light on the 
place, they became gradually apprised of the extent of their 
loss. 

Ishmael looked round upon the motionless and heavily loaded 
vehicles with his teeth firmly compressed, cast a glance at the 
amazed and helpless group of children, which clustered around 
their sullen but desponding mother, and walked out upon the 
open land, as if he found the air of the encampment too confined. 
He was followed by several of the men, who were attentive 
observers, watching the dark expression of his eye as the index 
of their own future movements. The whole proceeded in pro- 
found and moody silence to the summit of the nearest swell, 
whence they could command an almost boundless view of 
the naked plains. Here nothing was visible but a solitary 
buffalo, that gleaned a meagre subsistence from the decaying 
herbage, at no great distance, and the ass of the physician, 
who profited by his freedom to enjoy a meal richer than com- 
mon. 

“ Yonder is one of the creatures left by the villains to mock 
us,” said Ishmael, glancing his eye towards the latter, “ and 


THE PRAIRIE. 


91 


that the meanest of the stock. This is a hard country to make 
a crop in, boys; and yet food must be found to fill many 
hungry mouths ! ” 

“ The rifle is better than the hoe in such a place as this,” 
returned the eldest of his sons, kicking the hard and thirsty soil 
on which he stood, with an air of contempt. “ It is good for 
such as they who make their dinner better on beggars’ beans 
than homminy. A crow would shed tears if obliged by its errand 
to fly across the district.” 

“ What say you, trapper ?” returned the father, showing the 
slight impression his powerful heel had made on the compact 
earth, and laughing with frightful ferocity. “Is this the quality 
of land a man would choose who never troubles the county 
clerk with title deeds ?” 

“ There is richer soil in the bottoms,” returned the old man 
calmly, “ and you have passed millions of acres to get to this 
dreary spot, where he who loves to till the ’arth might have 
received bushels in return for pints, and that too at the cost of 
no very grievous labor. If you have come in search of land, 
you have journeyed hundreds of miles too far* or as many 
leagues too little. 

“ There is then a better choice towards the other ocean ?” 
demanded the squatter, pointing in the direction of the Pacific. 

“ There is, and I have seen it all,” was the answer of the 
other, who dropped his rifle to the earth, and stood leaning on 
its barrel, like one who recalled the scenes he had witnessed 
with melancholy pleasure. “ I have seen the waters of the two 
seas ! On one of them was I born, and raised to be a lad like 
yonder tumbling boy. America has grown, my men, since the 
days of my youth, to be a country larger than I once had 
thought the world itself to be. Near seventy years I dwelt 
in York, province and state together : — you’ve been in York, 
’tis like?” 

“ Not I — not I ; I never visited the towns ; but often have 
heard the place you speak of named. ’Tis a wide clearing 
there, I reckon.” 


92 


THE PRAIRIE. 


u Too wide ! too wide ! They scourge the very ’arth with 
their axes. Such hills and hunting grounds as I have seen 
stripped of the gifts of the Lord, without remorse or shame ! 
I tarried till the mouths of my hounds were deafened by the 
blows of the chopper, and then I came west in search of quiet. 
It was a grievous journey that I made ; a grievous toil to pass 
through falling timber, and to breathe the thick air of smoky 
clearings, week after week, as I did ! ’Tis a far country too, 
that state of York, from this !” 

“ It lies ag’in the outer edge of old Kentuck, I reckon ; though 
what the distance may be I never knew.” 

“ A gull would have to fan a thousand miles of air to find 
the eastern sea. And yet it is no mighty reach to hunt across, 
when shade and game are plenty ! The time has been when I 
followed the deer in the mountains of the Delaware and Hud- 
son, and took the beaver on the streams of the upper lakes, in 
the same season : but my eye was quick and certain at that 
day, and my limbs were like the legs of a moose ! The dam 
of Hector,” dropping his look kindly to the aged hound that 
crouched at his feet, “ was then a pup, and apt to open on the 
game the moment she struck the scent. She gave me a deal of 
trouble, that slut, she did ! ” 

“ Your hound is old, stranger, and a rap on the head w 7 ould 
prove a mercy to the beast.” 

“ The dog is like his master,” returned the trapper, without 
appearing to heed the brutal advice the other gave, “ and will 
number his days when his work amongst the game is over, and not 
before. To my eye things seem ordered to meet each other in this 
creation. ’Tis not the swiftest running deer that always throws 
off the hounds, nor the biggest arm that holds the truest rifle. 
Look around you, men ; what will the Yankee choppers say, 
when they have cut their path from the eastern to the western 
waters, and find that a hand, which can lay the ’arth bare at a 
blow, has been here and swept the country, in very mockery of 
their wickedness. They will turn on their tracks like a fox that 
doubles, and then the rank smell of their own footsteps will 


THE PRAIRIE. 


93 


show them the madness of their waste. Howsomever, these are 
thoughts that are more likely to rise in him who has seen the 
folly of eighty seasons, than to teach wisdom to men still bent 
on the pleasures of their kind ! You have need, yet, of a stir- 
ring time, if you think to escape the craft and hatred of the 
burnt-wood Indians. They claim to be the lawful owners of 
this country, and seldom leave a white more than the skin he 
boasts of, when once they get the power, as they always have 
the will, to do him harm.” 

“ Old man,” said Ishmael sternly, “ to which people do you 
belong ? You have the color and speech of a Christian, while 
it seems that your heart is with the red-skins.” 

“ To me there is little difference in nations. The people I 
loved most, are scattered as the sands of the dry river-beds fly 
before the fall hurricanes, and life is too short to make use and 
custom with strangers, as one can do with such as he has dwelt 
amongst for years. Still am I a man without the cross of 
Indian blood ; and what is due from a warrior to his nation, is 
owing by me to the people of the States ; though little need 
have they, with their militia and their armed boats, of help 
from a single arm of fourscore.” 

“ Since you own your kin, I may ask a simple question. 
Where are the Siouxes who have stolen my cattle ?” 

“ Where is the herd of buffaloes, which was chased by the 
panther across this plain, no later than the morning of yester- 
day ! It is as hard ” 

“ Friend,” said Dr. Battius, who had hitherto been an atten- 
tive listener, but who how felt a sudden impulse to mingle in 
the discourse, “ I am grieved when I find a Venator or hunter 
of your experience and observation, following the current of 
vulgar error. The animal you describe is in truth a species of 
the bos ferus (or bos sylvestris, as he has been happily called 
by the poets), but, though of close affinity, it is altogether dis- 
tinct from the common bubulus. Bison is the better word ; and 
I would suggest the necessity of adopting it in future, when you 
shall have occasion to allude to the species.” 


94 


l'HE PRAIRIE. 


“ Bison or buffalo, it makes but little matter. The crealur is 
the same, call it by what name you will, and ” 

“ Pardon me, venerable Venator ; as classification is the very 
soul of the natural sciences, the animal or vegetable must ot 
necessity be characterized by the peculiarities of its species* 
which is always indicated by the name ” 

“Friend,” said the trapper, a little positively, “would the tail 
of a beaver make the worse dinner for calling it a mink ; or 
could you eat of the wolf with relish, because some bookish 
man had given it the name of venison ?” 

As these questions were put with no little earnestness and 
some spirit, there was every probability that a hot discussion 
would have succeeded between two men, of whom one was 
so purely practical and the other so much given to theory, had 
not Ishmael seen fit to terminate the dispute, by bringing into 
view a subject that was much more important to his own imme- 
diate interests. 

“ Beavers’ tails and minks’ flesh may do to talk about before 
a maple fire and a quiet hearth,” interrupted the squatter, with- 
out the smallest deference to the interested feelings of the dis- 
putants ; “ but something more than foreign words, or words of 
any sort, is now needed. Tell me, trapper, where are your 
Siouxes skulking ?” 

“ It would be as easy to tell you the colors of the hawk that 
is floating beneath yonder white cloud! When a red-skin 
strikes his blow, he is not apt to wait until he is paid for the 
evil deed in lead.” * 

“ Will the beggarly savages believe they have enough, when 
they find themselves masters of all the stock ?” 

“ Natur’ is much the same, let it be covered by what skin it 
may. Do you ever find your longings after riches less when 
you have made a good crop, than before you were master of a 
kernel of corn ? If you do, you differ from what the experi- 
ence of a long life tells me is the common cravings of man.” 

“ Speak plainly, old stranger,” said the squatter, striking the 
butt of his rifle heavily on the earth, his dull capacity finding 


THE PRAIRIE . 


95 


no pleasure in a discourse that was conducted in so obscure allu- 
sions ; “ I have asked a simple question, and one I know well 
that you can answer.” 

“ You are right, you are right. I can answer, for I have too 
often seen the disposition of my kind to mistake it, when evil is 
stirring. When the Siouxes have gathered in the beasts, and 
have made sure that you are not upon their heels, they will be 
back nibbling like hungry wolves to take the bait they have left ; 
or it may be, they’ll show the temper of the great bears that 
are found at the falls of the Long River, and strike at once with 
the paw, without stopping to nose their prey.” 

“ You have then seen the animals you mention !” exclaimed 
Dr. Battius, who had now been thrown out of the conversation 
quite as long as his impatience could well brook, and who 
approached the subject with his tablets ready opened, as a book 
of reference. “ Can you tell me if what you encountered was 
of the species ursus horribilis — with the ears , rounded— -front, 
arquated — eyes, destitute of the remarkable supplemental lid — 
with six incisores, one false, and four perfect molares ” 

“ Trapper, go on, for we are engaged in reasonable discourse,” 
interrupted Ishmael ; “you believe we shall see more of the 
robbers.” 

“ Nay — nay — I do not call them robbers, for it is the usage 
of their people, and what may be called the prairie law.” 

“ I have come five hundred miles to find a place where no 
man can ding the words of the law in my ears,” said Ishmael, 
fiercely, “ and I am not in a humor to stand quietly at a bar, 
while a red-skin sits in judgment. I tell you, trapper, if another 
Sioux is seen prowling around my camp, wherever it may be, he 
shall feel the contents of old Kentuck ,” slapping his rifle in a 
manner that could not be easily misconstrued, “ though he wore 
the medal of Washington* himself. I call the man a robber, 
who takes that which is not his own.” 

♦The American government creates chiefs among the western tribes, and 
necorntes them with silver ’medals bearing the impression of the different presi* 
dents. That of Washington is the most prized. 


90 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“The Teton, and the Pawnee, and the Konza, and men of a 
dozen other tribes, claim to own these naked fields.” 

“ Natur’ gives them the lie in their teeth. The air, the water, 
and the ground, are free gifts to man, and no one has the power 
to portion them out in parcels. Man must drink, and breathe^ 
and walk, — and therefore each has a right to his share of ’arth. 
Why do not the surveyors of the States set their compasses and 
run their lines over our heads as well as beneath our feet ? Why do 
they not cover their shining sheep-skins with big words, giving 
to the landholder, or perhaps he should be called airholder, so 
many rods of heaven, with the use of such a star for a boundary- 
mark, and such a cloud to turn a mill ?” 

As the squatter uttered his wild conceit, he laughed from the 
very bottom of his chest, in scorn. The deriding but frightful 
merriment passed from the mouth of one of his ponderous sons 
to that of the other, until it had made the circuit of the whole 
family. 

. “ Come, trapper,” continued Ishmael, in a tone of better hu- 
mor, like a man who feels that he has triumphed, “ neither of 
us, I reckon, has ever had much to do with title-deeds, or county 
clerks, or blazed trees ; therefore we will not waste words on 
fooleries. You ar’ a man that has tarried long in this clearing ; 
and now I ask your opinion, face to face, without fear or favor, 
if you had the lead in my business, what would you do ?” 

The old man hesitated, and seemed to give the required ad- 
vice with deep reluctance. As every eye, however, was fastened 
on him, and whichever way he turned his face, he encountered a 
look riveted on the lineaments of his own working countenance, 
he answered in a low, melancholy tone — 

“ I have seen too much mortal blood poured out in empty 
quarrels, to wish ever to hear an angry rifle again. Ten weary 
years have I sojourned alone on these naked plains, waiting for 
my hour, and not a blow have I struck ag’in an enemy more 
humanized than the grizzly bear ” 

“ Ursus horribilis,” muttered the doctor. 

The speaker paused at the sound of the other’s voice, but 


TIIE PRAIRIE. 97 

perceiving it was no more than a sort of mental ejaculation, he 
continued in the same strain — 

“ More humanized than the grizzly bear, or the panther of 
the Rocky Mountains ; unless the beaver, which is a wise and 
knowing animal, may be so reckoned. What would I advise 8 
Even the female buffalo will fight for her young !” 

“ It never then shall be said, that Ishmael Bush has less kind- 
ness for his children than the bear for her cubs !” 

“ And yet this is but a naked spot for a dozen men to make 
head in, ag’in five hundred.” 

“ Ay, it is so,” returned the squatter, glancing his eye towards 
his humble camp ; “ but something might be done with the 
wagons and the cotton-wood.” 

The trapper shook his head incredulously, and pointed across 
the rolling plain in the direction of the west, as he answered — 
“ A rifle would send a bullet from these hills into your very 
sleeping-cabins ; nay, arrows from the thicket in your rear would 
keep you all burrowed, like so many prairie dogs ; it wouldn’t 
do, it wouldn’t do. Three long miles from this spot is a place 
where, as I have often thought in passing across the desert, a 
stand might be made for days and weeks together, if there were 
hearts and hands ready to engage in the bloody work.” 

Another low, deriding laugh passed among the young men, 
announcing, in a manner sufficiently intelligible, their readiness 
to undertake a task even more arduous. The squatter himself 
eagerly seized the hint which had been so reluctantly extorted 
from the trapper, who, by some singular process of reasonirg, 
had evidently persuaded himself that it was his duty to be 
strictly neutral. A few direct and pertinent inquiries served to 
obtain the little additional information that was necessary, in 
order to make the contemplated movement, and then Ishmael, 
who was, on emergencies, as terrifically energetic as he was 
sluggish in common, set about effecting his object without delay. 
Notwithstanding the industry and zeal of all engaged, the 
task was one of great labor and difficulty. The loaded vehicles 
were to be drawn by hand across a wide distance of plain, 


98 


THE PRAIRIE. 


without track, or guide of any sort, except that which the 
trapper had furnished by communicating his knowledge of the 
cardinal points of the compass. In accomplishing this object, the 
gigantic strength of the men was taxed to the utmost, nor were 
the females or the children spared a heavy proportion of the toil. 
While the sons distributed themselves about the heavily loaded 
wagons, and drew them by main strength up the neighboring 
swell, their mother and Ellen, surrounded by the amazed group of 
little ones, followed slowly in the rear, bending under the weight 
of such different articles as were suited to their several strengths. 

• Ishmael himself superintended and directed the whole, occa- 
sionally applying his colossal shoulder to some lagging vehicle 
until he saw that the chief difficulty, that of gaining the level of 
their intended route, was accomplished. Then he pointed out 
the required course, cautioning his sons to proceed in such a 
manner that they should not lose the advantage they had with 
so much labor obtained, and beckoning to the brother of his 
wife, they returned together to the empty camp. 

Throughout the whole of this movement, which occupied an 
hour of time, the trapper had stood apart, leaning on his rifle, 
with the aged hound slumbering at his feet, a silent but attentive 
observer of all that passed. Occasionally a smile lighted his 
hard, muscular, but wasted features, like a gleam of sunshine 
flitting across a ragged ruin, and betrayed the momentary 
pleasure he found in witnessing from time to time the vast 
power the youths discovered. Then, as the train drew slowly 
up the ascent, a cloud of thought and sorrow threw all into the 
shade again, leaving the expression of .his countenance in its 
usual state of quiet melancholy. As vehicle after vehicle left ' 
the place of the encampment, he noted the change with 
increasing attention; seldom failing to cast an inquiring look at 
the little neglected tent, which, with its proper wagon, still 
remained as before, solitary and apparently forgotten. The 
summons of Ishmael to his gloomy associate had, however, as 
it would now seem, this hitherto neglected portion of his effects 
for its object. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


99 


First casting a cautious and suspicious glance on every side 
of him, the squatter and his companion advanced to the little 
wagon, and caused it to enter within the folds of the cloth 
much in the manner that it had been extricated the pre- 
ceding evening. They both then disappeared behind the 
drapery, and many moments of suspense succeeded, during 
which the old man, secretly urged by a burning desire to know 
the meaning of so much mystery, insensibly drew nigh to the 
place, until he stood within a few yards of the proscribed spot. 
The agitation of the cloth betrayed the nature of the occupation 
of those whom it concealed, though their work was conducted 
in rigid silence. It would appear that long practice had made 
each of the two acquainted with his particular duty ; for neither 
sign nor direction of any sort was necessary from Ishmael, in 
order to apprise his surly associate of the manner in which he 
was to proceed. In less time than has been consumed in 
relating it, the interior portion of the arrangement was com- 
pleted, when the men re-appeared without the tent. Too busy 
with his occupation to heed the presence of the trapper, Ish- 
mael began to release the folds of the cloth from the ground, 
and to dispose of them in such a manner around the vehicle, as 
to form a sweeping train to the new form the little pavilion had 
now assumed. The arched roof trembled with the occasional 
movement of the light vehicle which, it was now apparent, once 
more supported its secret burden. Just as the work was ended, 
the scowling eye of Ishmael’s assistant caught a glimpse of the 
figure of the attentive observer of their movements. Dropping 
the shaft, which he had already lifted from the ground, pre- 
paratory to occupying the place that was usually filled by an 
animal less reasoning and perhaps less dangerous than him- 
self, he bluntly exclaimed — 

“lama fool as you often say ! But look for yourself. If 
that man is not an enemy, I will disgrace father and mother, 
call myself an Indian, and go hunt with the Siouxes !” 

The cloud, as it is about to discharge the subtle lightning, is 
not more dark nor threatening, than the look with which Ish- 


100 


THE PRAIRIE. 


mael greeted the intruder. He turned his head on every side 
of him, as if seeking some engine sufficiently terrible to anni- 
hilate the offending trapper at a blow ; and then, possibly 
recollecting the further occasion he might have for his coun- 
sel, he forced himself to say, with an appearance of moderation 
that nearly choked him — 

“ Stranger, I did believe this prying into the concerns of 
others was the business of women in the towns and settlements, 
and not the manner in which men, who are used to live where 
each has room for himself, deal with the secrets of their neighbors. 
To what lawyer or sheriff do you calculate to sell your news ?” 

“ I hold but little discourse except with one, and then chiefly 
of ray own affairs,” returned the old man, without the least 
observable apprehension, and pointing imposingly upward ; “ a 
Judge ; and Judge of all. Little does he need knowledge from 
my hands, and but little will your wish to keep any thing se- 
cret from him profit you, even in this desert.” 

The mounting tempers of his untutored listeners were rebuked 
by the simple, solemn manner of the trapper. Ishmael stood 
sullen and thoughtful ; while his companion stole a furtive and 
involuntary glance at the placid sky, which spread so wide and 
blue above his head, as if he expected to see the Almighty eye 
itself beaming from the heavenly vault. But impressions of a 
serious character are seldom lasting on minds long indulged in 
forgetfulness. The hesitation of the squatter was consequently 
of short duration. The language, however, as well as the firm 
and collected air of the speaker, were the means of preventing 
much subsequent abuse, if not violence. 

“It would be showing more of the, kindness of a friend and 
comrade,” Ishmael returned, in a tone sufficiently sullen, to 
betray his humor, though it was no longer threatening, “had 
your shoulder been put to the wheel of one of yonder wagons, 
instead of edging itself in here, *^fh ere none are wanted but 
such as are invited.” 

“ I can put the little strength that is left me,” returned the 
trapper, “ to this, as well as to another of your loads.” 


THE PR A IRIE. 


101 


“ Do you take us for boys !” exclaimed Ishmael, laughing, 
half in ferocity and half in derision, applying his powerful 
strength at the same time to the little vehicle, which rolled 
over the grass with as much seeming facility as if it were 
drawn by its usual team. 

The trapper paused, and followed the departing wagon with 
his eye, marvelling greatly as to the nature of its concealed con- 
tents, until it had also gained the summit of the eminence, and 
in its turn disappeared behind the swell of the land. Then he 
turned to gaze at the desolation of the scene around him. The 
absence of human forms would have scarce created a sensation 
in the bosom of one so long accustomed to solitude, had not the 
site of the deserted camp furnished such strong memorial of 
its recent visitors, and as the old man was quick to detect, of 
their waste also. He cast his eye upward, with a shake of 
the head, at the vacant spot in the heavens which had so lately 
been filled by the branches of those trees that now lay stripped 
of their verdure, worthless and deserted logs at his feet. 

“ Ay,” he muttered to himself, “ I might have know’d it — I 
might have know’d it ! Often have I seen the same before ; 
and yet I brought them to the spot myself, and have now sent 
them to the only neighborhood of their kind within many long 
leagues of the spot where I stand. This is man’s wish, and 
pride, and waste, and sinfulness ! He tames the beasts of the 
field to feed his idle wants : and having robbed the brutes of 
their natural food, he teaches them to strip the ’arth of its trees 
to quiet their hunger.” 

A rustling in the low bushes which still grew, for some dis- 
tance, along the swale that formed the thicket on which the 
camp of Ishmael had rested, caught his ear at the moment, and 
cut short the soliloquy. The habits of so many years spent in 
the wilderness caused the old man to bring his rifle to a poise, 
with something like the activity and promptitude of his youth ; 
but, suddenly recovering his recollection, he dropped it into the 
hollow of his arm again, and resumed his air of melancholy 
resignation. 


102 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ Come forth, come forth ! ” he said aloud : “ be ye bird or 
be ye beast, ye are safe from these old hands. I have eaten 
and I have drunk : why should I take life, when my wants call 
for no sacrifice ? It will not be long afore the birds will peck 
at eyes that shall not see them, and perhaps light on my very 
bones ; for if things like these are only made to perish, why am 
I to expert to live for ever ? Come forth, come forth ; you are 
safe from harm at these weak hands.” 

“ Thank you for the good word, old trapper ! ” cried Paul 
Hover, springing actively forward from his place of concealment. 
“There was an air about you, when you threw forward the 
muzzle of your piece, that I did not like ; for it seemed to say 
that you were master of all the rest of the motions.” 

“ You are right, you are right !” cried the trapper, laughing 
with inward self-complacency at the recollection of his former 
skill. “ The day has been when few men knew the virtues of a 
long rifle like this I carry, better than myself, old and useless as I 
now seem. You are right, young man ; and the time was when 
it was dangerous to move a leaf within ear-shot of my stand ; 
or,” he added, dropping his voice and looking serious, “ for a 
Red Mingo to show an eyeball from his ambushment. You 
have heard of the Red Mingos ?” 

“ I have heard of Minks,” said Paul, taking the old man by 
the arm, and gently urging him towards the thicket as he 
spoke ; while at the same time he cast quick and uneasy glances 
behind him, in order to make sure he was not observed. 
“ Of your common black minks ; but none of any other 
color.” 

“ Lord ! Lord !” continued the trapper, shaking his head, and 
still laughing in his deep, but quiet manner ; “ the boy mistakes 
a brute for a man ! Though a Mingo is little better than a 
beast ; or for that matter, he is worse when rum and opportunity 
are placed before his eyes. There was that accursed Huron 
from the upper lakes, that I knocked from his perch among the 
rocks in the hills, back of the Hori ” 

His voice was lost in the thicket, into which he had suffered 


THE PRAIRIE. 


103 


himself to be led by Paul while speaking, too much occupied 
by thoughts which dwelt on scenes and acts that had taken 
nlace half a century earlier in the history of the country, to offer 
the smallest resistance. 


CHAPTER VIII. 


“ Now they f.re clapper clawing one another ; I’ll go look on. That dissembling 
abominable varlet, Diomed, has got that same scurvy, doting, foolish young knave 
in his helm.” 

Troilus and Crbssida. 

It is necessary, in order that the thread of the narrative should 
not be spun to a length which might fatigue the reader, that he 
should imagine a week to have intervened between the scene 
with which the preceding chapter closed and the events with 
which it is our intention to resume its relation in this. The 
season was on the point of changing its character ; the verdure 
of summer giving place more rapidly to the brown and party- 
colored livery of the fall.* The heavens were clothed in driving 
clouds, piled in vast masses one above the other, which whirled 
violently in the gusts ; opening, occasionally, to admit transient 
glimpses of the bright and glorious sight of the heavens, dwelling 
in a magnificence by far too grand and durable to be disturbed 
by the fitful efforts of the lower world. Beneath, the wind 
swept across the wild and naked prairies with a violence that is 
seldom witnessed in any section of the continent less open. It 
would have been easy to have imagined, in the ages of fable, 
that the god of the winds had permitted his subordinate agents 
to escape from their den, and that they now rioted in wanton- 
ness across wastes where neither tree, nor work of man, nor 
mountain, nor obstacle of any sort, opposed itself to their 
gambols. 

Though nakedness might, as usual, be given as the pervading 
character of the spot whither it is now necessary to transfer the 
scene of the tale, it was not entirely without the signs of human 


• The Americans call the autumn the “fall,” from the fall of the leaf. 


THE PRA RIE. 


105 


life. Amid the monotonous rolling of the prairie, a single naked 
and ragged rock arose on the margin of a little watercourse 
which found its way, after winding a vast distance through the 
plains, into one of the numerous tributaries of the father of 
Rivers. A swale of low land lay near the base of the eminence ; 
and as it was still fringed with a thicket of alders and sumach, 
it bore the signs of having once nurtured a feeble growth of 
wood. The trees themselves had been transferred, however, to 
the summit and crags of the neighboring rocks. On this eleva- 
tion, the signs of man, to which the allusion just made applies, 
were to be found. 

Seen from beneath, there were visible a breastwork of logs 
and stones, intermingled in such a manner as to save all un- 
necessary labor, a few low roofs made of bark and boughs of 
trees, an occasional barrier, constructed like the defences on the 
summit, and placed on such points of the acclivity as were easier 
of approach than the general face of the eminence ; and a little 
dwelling of cloth, perched on the apex of a small pyramid that 
shot up on one angle of the rock, the white covering of which 
glimmered from a distance like a spot of snow, or, to make the 
simile more suitable to the rest of the subject, like a spotless and 
carefully guarded standard, which was to be protected by the 
dearest blood of those who defended the citadel beneath. It is 
hardly necessary to add, that this rude and characteristic fort- 
ress was the place where Ishmael Bush had taken refuge, 
after the robbery of his flocks and herds. 

On the day to which the narrative is advanced, the squatter 
was standing near the base of the rocks, leaning on his rifle, and 
regarding the sterile soil that supported him with a look in 
which contempt and disappointment were strongly blended. 

“ >Tis time to change our natur’s,” he observed to the brother 
of his wife, who was rarely far from his elbow ; “ and to become 
ruminators, instead of people used to the fare of Christians and 
free men. I reckon, Abiram, you could glean a living among 
the grasshoppers ; you ar’ an active man, and might outrun 
the nimblest skipper of them all.” 

5 * 


106 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ The country will never do,” returned the other, who relished 
but little the forced humor of his kinsman ; “ and it is well to 
remember that a lazy traveller makes a long journey.” 

“ Would you have me draw a cart at my heels, across this 
desert, for weeks — ay, months ?” retorted Ishmael, who, like all 
of his class, could labor with incredible efforts on emergencies, 
but who too seldom exerted continued industry on any occasion 
to brook a proposal that offered so little repose. “ It may do 
for your people, who live in settlements, to hasten on to their 
houses ; but, thank Heaven ! my farm is too big for its owner 
ever to want a resting-place.” 

“ Since you like the plantatfon, then, you have only to make 
your crop.” 

“ That is easier said than done, on this corner of the estate. 
I tell you, Abiram, there is need of moving, for more reasons 
than one. You know I ’m a man that very seldom enters into 
a bargain, but who always fulfills his agreements better than 
your dealers in wordy contracts written on rags of paper. If 
there ’s one mile, there ar’ a hundred still needed to make up 
the distance for which you have my honor.” 

As he spoke, the squatter glanced his eye upward at the little 
tenement of cloth, which crowned the summit of his ragged 
fortress. The look was understood and answered by the other ; 
and by some secret influence, which operated either through 
their interests or feelings, it served to re-establish that harmony 
between them, which had just been threatened with something 
like a momentary breach. 

“ I know it and feel it in every bone of my body. But I 
remember the reason why I have set myself on this accursed 
journey too well, to forget the distance between me and the end. 
Neither you nor I will ever be the better for what we have done, 
unless we thoroughly finish what is so well begun. Ay, that is 
the doctrine of the whole w r orld, I judge ; I heard a travelling 
preacher, who was skirting it down the Ohio, a time since, say, 
if a man should live up to the faith for a hundred years, and 
then fall from his work a single day, he would find the settlement 


THE PRAIRIE. 


107 


was to be made for the finishing blow that he had put to his 
job, and that all the bad, and none of the good, would come 
into the final account.” 

“ And you believed the hungry hypocrite !” 

“ Who said that I believed it ?” retorted Abiram with a bully- 
ing look, that betrayed how much his fears had dwelt on the 
subject he affected to despise. “ Is it believing to tell what a 

roguish ? And yet, Ishmael, the man might have been 

honest after all ! He told us, that the world was, in truth, no 
better than a desert, and that there was but one hand that could 
lead the most learned man through all its crooked windings. 
Now, if this be true of the whole, it may be true of a part.” 

“ Abiram, out with your grievances like a man,” interrupted 
the squatter, with a hoarse laugh. “ You want to pray ! But 
of what use will it be, according to your own doctrine, to serve 
God five minutes and the devil an hour ? Harkee, friend ; I’m 
not much of a husbandman, but this I know to my cost : that 
to make a right good crop, even on the richest bottom, there 
must be hard labor ; and your snufflers liken the ’arth to a field 
of corn, and the men, who live on it, to its yield. Now I tell 
you, Abiram, that you are no better than a thistle or a mullin ; 
yea, ye ar’ a wood of too open a pore to be good even to burn.” 

The malign glance which shot from the scowling eye of 
Abiram, announced the angry character of his feelings ; but as 
the furtive look quailed, immediately, before the unmoved, 
steady countenance of the squatter, it also betrayed how much 
the bolder spirit of the latter had obtained the mastery over 
his craven nature. 

Content with his ascendancy, which was too apparent, and 
had been too often exerted on similar occasions, to leave him 
in any doubt of its extent, Ishmael coolly continued the dis- 
course, by adverting more directly to his future plans. 

“ You will own the justice of paying eveiy one in kind,” he 
said ; “ I have been robbed of my stock, and I have a scheme 
to make myself as good as before, by taking hoof for hoof; or 
for that matter, when a man is put to the trouble of bargaining 


103 


THE PRAIRIE. 


for both sides, he is a fool if he don’t pay himself something in 
the way of commission.” 

As the squatter made this declaration in a tone which was a 
little excited by the humor of the moment, four or five of his 
lounging sons, who had been leaning against the foot of the 
rock, came forward with the indolent step so common to the 
family. 

“I have been calling Ellen Wade, who is on the rock keeping 
the look-out, to know if there is anything to be seen,” observed 
the eldest of the young men ; “ and she shakes her head, for an 
answer. Ellen is sparing of her words for a woman ; and might 
be taught manners, at least, without spoiling her good looks.” 

Ishmael cast his eye upwards to the place where the offending 
but unconscious girl was holding her anxious watch. She was 
seated at the edge of the uppermost crag, by the side of the 
little tent, and at least two hundred feet above the level of the 
plain. Little else was to be distinguished, at that distance, but 
the outline of her form, her fair hair streaming in the gusts 
beyond her shoulders, and the steady and seemingly unchange- 
able look that she riveted on some remote point of the prairie. 

“ What is it, Nell ?” cried Ishmael, lifting his powerful voice 
a little above the rushing of the element. “ Have you got a 
glimpse of anything bigger than a burrowing barker ?” 

The lips of the attentive Ellen parted ; she rose to the utmost 
height her small stature admitted, seeming still to regard the 
unknown object ; but her voice, if she spoke at all, was not 
sufficiently loud to be heard amid the wind. 

“ It ar’ a fact that the child sees something more uncommon 
than a buffalo or a prairie dog !” continued Ishmael. “ Why, 
Nell, girl, ar’ ye deaf? Nell, I say ; — I hope it is an army of 
red-skins she has in her eye ; for I should relish the chance to 
pay them for their kindness, under the favor of these logs and 
rocks !” 

As the squatter accompanied his vaunt with corresponding 
gestures, and directed his eyes to the circle of his equalty con- 
fident sons while speaking, he drew their gaze from Ellen to 


THE PRAIRIE. 


109 


himself ; but, now, when they turned together to note the suc- 
ceeding movements of their female sentinel, the place which had 
so lately been occupied by her form was vacant. 

“ As I am a sinner,” exclaimed Asa, usually one of the most 
phlegmatic of the youths, “ the girl is blown away by the wind !” 

Something like a sensation was exhibited among them, which 
might have denoted that the influence of the laughing blue eyes, 
flaxen hair, and glowing cheeks of Ellen, had noi been lost on 
the dull natures of the young men ; and looks of amazement, 
mingled slightly with concern, passed from one to the other as 
they gazed, in dull wonder, at the point of the naked rock. 

“ It might well be !” added another ; “ she sat on a slivered 
stone, and I have been thinking of telling her she was in danger 
for more than an hour.” 

“ Is that a riband of the child, dangling from the corner of 
the hill below ?” cried Ishmael ; “ ha ! who is moving about the 
tent ? have I not told you all ” 

“ Ellen ! ’tis Ellen !” interrupted the whole body of his sons 
in a breath, and at that instant she re-appeared to put an end 
to their different surmises, and to relieve more than one sluggish 
nature from its unwonted excitement. As Ellen issued from 
beneath the folds of the tent, she advanced with a light and 
fearless step to her former giddy stand, and pointed towards the 
prairie, appearing to speak in an eager and rapid voice to some 
invisible auditor. 

“Nell is mad !” said Asa, half in contempt, and yet not a lit- 
tle in concern. “ The girl is dreaming with her eyes open ; and 
thinks she sees some of them fierce creaturs, with hard names, 
with which the Doctor fills her ears.” 

“ Can it be that the child has found a scout of the Siouxes ?” 
said Ishmael, bending his look towards the plain ; but a low, 
significant whisper from Abiram drew his eyes quickly upwards 
again, where they were turned just in time to perceive that the 
cloth of the tent was agitated by a motion very evidently dif- 
ferent from the quivering occasioned by the wind. “ Let her, 
if she dare!” the squatter muttered in his teeth. “Abiram, 


110 


THE PRAIRIE. 


they know my temper too well to play the prank with 
me !” 

“Look for yourself! If the curtain is not lifted, I can see no 
better than the owl by daylight.” 

Ishmael struck the breech of his rifle violently on the earth, 
and shouted in a voice that might easily have been heard by 
Ellen, had not her attention still continued rapt on the object 
which so unaccountably attracted her eyes in the distance. 

“Nell!’ continued the squatter, “ away with you, fool ! will 
you bring down punishment on your own head ? Why, Nell ! 
— she has forgotten her native speech ; let us see if she can 
understand another language.” 

Ishmael threw his rifle to his shoulder, and at the next mo- 
ment it was pointed upwards at the summit of the rock. Before 
time was given for a word of remonstrance, it had sent forth its 
contents, in its usual streak of bright flame. Ellen started like 
the frightened chamois, and uttering a piercing scream, she 
darted into the tent with a swiftness that left it uncertain 
whether terror or actual injury had been the penalty of her 
offence. 

The action of the squatter was too sudden and unexpected to 
admit of prevention ; but the instant it was done, his sons mani- 
fested, in an unequivocal manner, the temper with which they 
witnessed the desperate measure. Angry and fierce glances 
were interchanged, and a murmur of disapprobation was uttered 
by the whole, in common. 

“ What has Ellen done, father,” said Asa, with a degree of 
spirit which was the more striking from being unusual, “ that 
she should be shot at like a straggling deer or a hungry wolf?” 

“ Mischief,” deliberately returned the squatter ; but with a 
cool expression of defiance in his eye, that showed how little he 
was moved by the ill-concealed humor of his children. “ Mis- 
chief, boy; mischief! take you heed that the disorder don’t 
spread !” 

It would need a different treatment in a man than in yon 
screaming girl.” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


Ill 


“ Asa, you ar’ a man, as you have often boasted ; but re- 
member, I am your father, and your better.” 

“ I know it well ; and what sort of a father ?” 

Harkee, boy : I more than half believe that your drowsy 
head let in the Siouxes. Be modest in speech my watchful 
son, or you may have to answer yet for the mischief your own 
bad conduct has brought upon us.” 

“ I ’ll stay no longer, to be hectored like a child in petticoats. 
You talk of law, as if you knew of none, and yet you keep mo 
down as though I had not life and wants of my own. I’ll stay 
no longer to be treated like one of your meanest cattle !” 

“ The world is wide, my gallant boy, and there ’s many a 
noble plantation on it, without a tenant. Go ; you have title 
deeds signed and sealed to your hand. Few fathers portion 
their children better than Ishmael Bush ; you will say that for 
me at least, when you get to be a wealthy landholder.” 

“ Look ! father, look !” exclaimed several voices at once, seiz- 
ing with avidity an opportunity to interrupt a dialogue which 
threatened to become more violent. 

“ Look !” repeated Abiram, in a voice which sounded hollow 
and warning ; “ if you have time for anything but quarrels, 
Ishmael, look !” 

The squatter turned slowly from his offending son, and cast 
an eye that still lowered with deep resentment upward ; but 
which, the instant it caught a view of the object that now at- 
tracted the attention of all around him, changed its expression 
to one of astonishment and dismay. 

A female stood on the spot from which Ellen had been so 
fearfully expelled. Her person was of the smallest size that is 
believed to comport with beauty, and which poets and artists 
have chosen as the beau ideal of female loveliness. Her dress 
was of a dark and glossy silk, and fluttered like gossamer around 
her form. Long, flowing, and curling tresses of hair, still blacker 
and more shining than her robe, fell at times about her shoul- 
ders, completely enveloping the whole of her delicate bust in 
their ringlets ; or at others streaming in the wind. The eleva- 


112 


THE PRAIRIE. 


tion at which she stood prevented a close examination of the 
lineaments of a countenance, which, however, it might be seen 
was youthful, and, at the moment of her unlooked-for appear- 
ance, eloquent with feeling. So young, indeed, did this fair and 
fragile being appear, that it might be doubted whether the age 
of childhood was entirely passed. One small and exquisitely 
moulded hand was pressed on her heart, while with the other 
she made <tn impressive gesture, which seemed to invite Ishmael, 
if further violence was meditated, to direct it against her bosom. 

The silent wonder with which the group of borderers gazed 
upwards at so extraordinary a spectacle, was only interrupted as 
the person of Ellen was seen emerging with timidity from the 
tent, as if equally urged by apprehensions in behalf of herself, 
and the fears which she felt on account of her companion, to 
remain concealed and to advance. She spoke, but her words 
were unheard by those below, and unheeded by her to whom 
they were addressed. The latter, however, as if content with 
the offer she had made of herself as a victim to the resentment 
of Ishmael, now calmly retired, and the spot she had so lately 
occupied became vacant, leaving a sort of stupid impression on 
the spectators beneath, not unlike that which it might be 
supposed would have been created, had they just been gazing 
at some supernatural vision. 

More than a minute of profound silence succeeded, during 
which the sons of Ishmael still continued gazing at the naked 
rock in stupid wonder. Then, as eye met eye, an expression of 
novel intelligence passed from one to the other, indicating that 
to them, at least, the appearance of this extraordinary tenant of 
the pavilion was as unexpected as it was incomprehensible. At 
length Asa, in right of his years, and moved by the rankling 
impulse of the recent quarrel, took on himself the office of inter- 
rogator. Instead, however, of braving the resentment of his 
father, of whose fierce nature, when aroused, he had had too fre- 
quent evidence to excite it wantonly, he turned upon the cower- 
ing person of Abiram, observing with a sneer — 

u This then is the beast you were bringing into the prairies 


THE PRAIRIE. 


113 


for a decoy ! I know you to be a man who seldom troubles 
truth when anything worse may answer, but I never knew you 
to outdo yourself so thoroughly before. The newspapers of 
Kentuk have called you a dealer in black flesh a hundred 
times, buf> little did they reckon that you drove the trade into 
white families.” 

“ Who is a kidnapper ?” demanded Abiram, with a blustering 
show of resentment. “ Am I to be called to account for every 
lie they put in print throughout the States ? Look to your own 
family, boy ; look to yourselves. The very stumps of Kentucky 
. and Tennessee cry out agin ye. Ay, my tonguey gentleman, 
I have seen father and mother and three children, yourself for 
one, published on the logs and stubs of the settlements, with 
dollars enough for reward to have made an honest man rich, 
for ” 

He was interrupted by a back-handed but violent blow on 
the mouth that caused him to totter, and which left the im- 
pression of its weight in the starting blood and swelling lips. 

“ Asa,” said the father, advancing with a portion of that 
dignity with which the hand of Nature seems to have invested 
the parental character, “ you have struck the brother of your 
mother !” 

“ I have struck the abuser of the whole family,” returned the 
angry youth ; “ and, unless he teaches his tongue a wiser 
language, he had better part with it altogether, as the unruly 
member. I’ m no great performer with the knife, but on an 
occasion could make out, myself, to cut off a slande ” 

“ Boy, twice have you forgotten yourself to-day. Be careful 
that it does not happen the third time. When the law of the 
land is weak, it is right the law of nature should be strong. 
You understand me, Asa ; and you know me. As for you, 
Abiram, the child has done you wrong, and it is my place to 
see you righted. Remember ; I tell you justice shall be done ; 
it is enough. But you have said hard things ag’in me and my 
family. If the hounds of the law have put their bills on the 
trees and stumps of the clearings, it was for no act of dishonesty, 


114 


THE PRAIRIE. 


as you know, but because we maintain the rule that ’arth is 
common property. No, Abiram ; could I wash my hands of 
things done by your advice, as easily as I can of the things done 
by the whisperings of the devil, my sleep would be quieter at 
night, and none who bear my name need blush to hear it men- 
tioned. Peace, Asa, and you too, man ; enough has been said. 
Let us all think well before anything is added, that may make 
what is already so bad still more bitter.” 

Ishmael waved his hand with authority, as he ended, and 
turned away with the air of one who felt assured that those he 
had addressed would not have the temerity to dispute his com- 
mands. Asa evidently struggled with himself to compel the 
required obedience, but his heavy nature quietly sank into its 
ordinary repose, and he soon appeared again the being he 
really was ; dangerous only at moments, and one whose pas- 
sions were too sluggish to be long maintained at the point of 
ferocity. Not so with Abiram. While there was an appear- 
ance of a personal conflict between him and his colossal nephew, 
his mien had expressed the infallible evidences of engrossing 
apprehension ; but now that the authority as well as gigantic 
strength of the father were interposed between him and his as- 
sailant, his countenance changed from paleness to a livid hue, 
that bespoke how deeply the injury he had received rankled 
in his breast. Like Asa, however, he acquiesced in the decision 
of the squatter ; and the appearance, at least, of harmony was 
restored again among a set of beings, who were restrained by 
no obligations more powerful than the frail web of author- 
ity with which Ishmael had been able to envelope his 
children. 

One effect of the quarrel had been to divert the thoughts of 
the young man from their recent visitor. With the dispute 
that succeeded the disappearance of the fair stranger, all recol- 
lection of her existence appeared to have vanished. A few 
ominous and secret conferences, it is true, were held apart, dur- 
ing which the direction of the eyes of the different speakers 
betrayed their subject ; but these threatening symptoms soon 


THE PRAIRIE 


115 


disappeared, and the whole party was again seen broken into 
its usual, listless, silent, and lounging groups. 

“ I will go upon the rock, boys, and look abroad for the 
savages,” said Ishmael shortly after, advancing towards them 
with a mien which he intended should be conciliating, at the 
same time that it was authoritative. “ If there is nothing to 
fear, we will go out on the plain ; the day is too good to be lost 
in words, like women in the towns wrangling over their tea and 
sugared cakes.” 

Without waiting for approbation or dissent, the squatter 
advanced to the base of the rock, which formed a sort of per- 
pendicular wall, nearly twenty feet high, around the whole 
acclivity. Ishmael, however, directed his footsteps to a point 
where an ascent might be made through a narrow cleft, which 
he had taken the precaution to fortify with a breast-work of 
cotton-wood logs, and which, in its turn, was defended by a 
chevaux-de-frise of the branches of the same tree. Here an 
anned man was usually kept, as at the key of the whole position, 
and here one of the young men now stood, indolently leaning 
against the rock, ready to protect the pass, if it should prove 
necessary, until the whole party could be mustered at the several 
points of defence. 

From this place the squatter found the ascent still difficult, 
partly by nature, and partly by artificial impediments, until he 
reached a sort of terrace, or, to speak more properly, the plain 
of the elevation, where he had established the huts in which the 
whole family dwelt. These tenements were, as already men- 
tioned, of that class which are so often seen on the borders, and 
such as belonged to the infancy of architecture ; being simply 
formed of logs, bark, and poles. The area on which they stood 
contained several huudred square feet, and was sufficiently 
elevated above the plain greatly to lessen, if not to remove, all 
danger from Indian missiles. Here Ishmael believed he might 
leave his infants in comparative security, under the protection 
of their spirited mother ; and here he now found Esther engaged 
at her ordinary domestic employments, surrounded by her 


116 


THE PRAIRIE. 


daughters, and lifting her voice, in declamatory censure, as one 
or another of the idle fry incurred her displeasure, and far too 
much engrossed with the tempest of her own conversation to 
know anything of the violent scene which had been passing 
below. 

“ A fine windy place you have chosen for the camp, Ish- 
mael !” she commenced, or rather continued, by merely divert- 
ing the attack from a sobbing girl of ten, at her elbow, to her 
husband. “ My word ! if I have n’t to count the young ones 
every ten minutes, to see they are not flying away among the 
buzzards or the ducks. Why do ye all keep hovering round 
the rock, like lolloping reptiles in the spring, when the heavens 
are beginning to be alive with birds, man ! D’ye think 
mouths can be filled, and hunger satisfied, by laziness and 
sleep !” 

“ You’ll have your say, Eester,” said the husband, using the 
provincial pronunciation of America for the name, and regard- 
ing his noisy companions with a look of habitual tolerance 
rather than of affection. “ But the birds you shall have, if your 
own tongue don’t frighten them to take too high a flight. Ay, 
woman,” he continued, standing on the very spot whence he 
had so rudely banished Ellen, which he had by this time 
gained, “ and buffalo, too, if my eye can tell the animal at 
the distance of a Spanish league.” 

“ Come down ; come down, and be doing, instead of talking. 
A talking man is no better than a barking dog. Nell shall 
hang out the cloth, if any of the red skins show themselves, in 
time to give you notice. But, Ishmael, what have you been 
killing, my man ; for it was your rifle I heard a few minutes 
agone, unless I have lost my skill in sounds.” 

“ Poh ! ’twas to frighten the hawk you see sailing above the 
rock.” 

“ Hawk, indeed ! at your time of day to be shooting at hawks 
and buzzards, with eighteen open mouths to feed. Look at the 
bee, and at the beaver, my good man, and learn to be a provider. 
Why, Ishmael ! I believe my soul,” she continued, dropping 


THE PRAIRIE. 


117 


the tow she was twisting on a distaff, “ the man is in that tent 
ag’in ! More than half his time is spent about the worthless, 
good-for-nothing ” 

The sudden re-appearance of her husband closed the mouth 
of the wife ; and, as the former descended to the place where 
Esther had resumed her employment, she was content to grum- 
ble forth her dissatisfaction, instead of expressing it in more 
audible terms. 

The dialogue that now took place between the affectionate 
pair was sufficiently succinct and expressive. The woman was 
at first a little brief and sullen in her answers, but care for her 
family soon rendered her more complaisant. As the purport of 
the conversation was merely an engagement to hunt during the 
remainder of the day, in order to provide the chief necessary of 
life, we shall not stop to record it. 

With this resolution, then, the squatter descended to the plain 
and divided his forces into two parts, one of which was to remain 
as a guard with the fortress, and the other to accompany him 
to the field. He warily included Asa and Abiram in his own 
party, well knowing that no authority short of his own was 
competent to repress the fierce disposition of his headlong son, 
if fairly awakened. When these arrangements were completed, 
the hunters sallied forth, separating at no great distance from 
the rock, in order to form a circle about the distant herd of 
buffaloes. 


118 


THE PRAIRIE. 


CHAPTER IX. 


Priscian a little scratched ; 

Twill serve.” Love’s Labor Lost. 


Having made the reader acquainted with the manner in 
which Ishmael Bush had disposed of his family, under circum- 
stances that might have proved so embarrassing to most other 
men, we shall again shift the scene a few short miles from the 
place last described, preserving, however, the due and natural 
succession of time. At the very moment that the squatter and 
his sons departed in the manner mentioned in the preceding 
chapter, two men were intently occupied in a swale that lay 
along the borders of a little run, just out of cannon-shot from 
the encampment, discussing the merits of a savory bison’s 
hump, that had been prepared for their palates with the utmost 
attention to the particular merits of that description of food. 
The choice morsel had been judiciously separated from the 
adjoining and less worthy parts of the beast, and, enveloped in 
the hairy coating provided by nature, it had duly undergone 
the heat of the customary subterraneous oven, and was now 
laid before its proprietors in all the culinary glory of the 
prairies. So far as richness, delicacy and wildness of flavor, 
and substantial nourishment were concerned, the viand might 
well have claimed a decided superiority over the meretricious 
cookery and labored compounds of the most renowned artist ; 
though the service of the dainty was certainly achieved in a 
manner far from ^artificial. It would appear that the two fortu- 
nate mortals, to whose happy lot it fell to enjoy a meal in which 
health and appetite lent so keen a relish to the exquisite food 


TIIE PRAIRIE. 


119 


of the American deserts, were far from being insensible of the 
advantage they possessed. 

The one to whose knowledge in the culinary art the other 
was indebted for his banquet, seemed the least disposed 
of the two to profit by his own skill. He eat, it is true, and 
with a relish; but it was always with the moderation with 
which age is apt to temper the appetite. No such restraint, 
however, was imposed on the inclination of his companion. In 
the very flower of his days and in the vigor of manhood, the 
homage that he paid to the work of his more aged friend’s 
hands was of the most profound and engrossing character. As 
one delicious morsel succeeded another he rolled his eyes 
towards his companion, and seemed to express that gratitude 
which he had not speech to utter, in looks of the most benignant 
nature. 

“ Cut more into the heart of it, lad,” said the trapper, for it 
was the venerable inhabitant of those vast wastes, who had 
served the bee-hunter with the banquet in question ; “ cut more 
into the centre of the piece ; there you will find the genuine 
riches of natur’; and that without need from spices, or any of 
your biting mustard, to give it a foreign relish.” 

“ If I had but a cup of metheglin,” said Paul, stopping to 
perform the necessary operation of breathing, “ I should swear 
this was the strongest meal that was ever placed before the 
mouth of man !” 

“ Ay, ay, well you may call it strong !” returned the other, 
laughing after his peculiar manner, in pure satisfaction at wit- 
nessing the infinite contentment of his companion ; “ strong it 
is. and strong it makes him who eats it ! Here, Hector,” tossing 
the patient hound, who was watching his eye with a wistful 
look, a portion of the meat, “ you have need of strength, my 
friend, in your old days as well as your master. Now, lad, 
there is a dog that has eaten and slept wiser and better, ay, and 
that of richer food, than any king of them all! and why? 
because he has used and not abused the gifts of his Maker. He 
was made a hound, and like a hound has he feasted. Them 


120 


THE PRAIRIE. 


did He create men ; but they have eaten like famished wolves ! 
A good and prudent dog has Hector proved, and never have I 
found one of his breed false in nose or friendship. Do you 
know the difference between the cookery of the wilderness and 
that which is found in the settlements ? No ; I see plainly you 
don’t, by your appetite ; then I will tell you. The one follows 
man, the other natur.’ One thinks he can add to the gifts of 
the Creator, while the other is humble enough to enjoy them ; 
therein lies the secret.” 

“ I tell you, trapper,” said Paul, who was very little edified 
by the morality with which his associate saw fit to season their 
repast, “ that every day while we are in this place, and they 
are likely to be many, I will shoot a buffalo and you shall cook 
his hump !” 

“ I can not say that, I can not say that. The beast is good, 
take him in what part you will, and it was to be food for man 
that he was fashioned ; but I can not say that I will be a wit- 
ness and a helper to the waste of killing one daily.” 

“ The devil a bit of waste shall there be, old man. If they 
all turn out as good as this, I will engage to eat them clean 
myself, even to the hoofs ; — how now, who comes here ! some 
one with a long nose, I will answer ; and one that has led him 
on a true scent, if he is following the trail of a dinner.” 

The individual who interrupted the conversation, and who 
had elicited the foregoing remark of Paul, was seen advancing 
along the margin of the run with a deliberate pace, in a direct 
line for the two revellers. As there was nothing formidable nor 
hostile in his appearance, the bee-hunter, instead of suspending 
his operations, rather increased his efforts, in a manner which 
would seem to imply that he doubted whether the hump would 
suffice for the proper entertainment of all who were now likely 
to partake of the delicious morsel. With the trapper, how- 
ever, the case was different. His more tempered appetite was 
already satisfied, and he faced the new comer with a look of 
cordiality, that plainly evinced how very opportune he con- 
sidered his arrival. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


12 


11 Come on, friend,” he said, waving his hand, as he observed 
the stranger to pause a moment, apparently in doubt. “ Come 
on, I say ; if hunger be your guide, it has led you to a fitting 
place. Here is meat, and this youth can give you corn, parched 
till it be whiter than the upland snow ; come on, without fear. 
We are not ravenous beasts, eating of each other, but Christian 
men, receiving thankfully that which the Lord hath seen fit 
to give.” 

“Venerable hunter,” returned the Doctor, for it was no other 
than the naturalist on one of his daily exploring expeditions, 
“ I rejoice greatly at this happy meeting ; we are lovers of the 
same pursuits, and should be friends.” 

“ Lord, Lord !” said the old man, laughing, without much 
deference to the rules of decorum, in the philosopher’s very 
face, “ it is the man who wanted to make me believe that a 
name could change the natur’ of a beast ! Come, friend, you 
are welcome, though your notions are a little blinded with read- 
ing too many books. Sit ye down, and, after eating of this morsel, 
tell me, if you can, the name of the creatur’ that has bestowed 
on you its flesh for a meal ?” 

The eyes of Doctor Battius (for we deem it decorous to give 
the good man the appellation he most preferred) — the eyes of 
Doctor Battius sufficiently denoted the satisfaction with which 
he listened to this proposal. The exercise he had taken, and 
the sharpness of the wind, proved excellent stimulants; and 
Paul himself had hardly been in better plight to do credit to 
the trapper’s cookery, than was the lover of nature, when the 
grateful invitation met his ears. Indulging in a small laugh, 
which his exertions to repress reduced nearly to a simper, he 
took the indicated seat by the old man’s side, and made the 
customary dispositions to commence his meal without further 
ceremony. 

“ I should be ashamed of my profession,” he said, swallowing 
a morsel of the hump with evident delight, slily endeavoring at 
the same time to distinguish the peculiarities of the singed and 
defaced skin, “ T ought to be ashamed of my profession, were 

6 


122 


THE PRAIKIE. 


there beast or bird, on the continent of America, that I could 
not tell by some one of the many evidences which science has 
enlisted in her cause. This— then — the food is nutritious and 
savory — a mouthful of your corn, friend, if you please ?” 

Paul, who continued eating with increasing industry, looking 
askant not unlike a dog when engaged in the same agreeable 
pursuit, threw him his pouch, without deeming it at all neces- 
sary to suspend his own labors. 

“ You were saying} friend, that you have many ways of telling 
the creatur’ ?” — observed the attentive trapper. 

“Many; many and infallible. Now, the animals that are 
carnivorous are known by their incisores.” 

“ Their what P demanded the trapper. 

“ The teeth with which nature has furnished them for defence, 
and in order to tear their food. Again ” 

“ Look you then for the teeth of this creatur’,” interrupted 
the trapper, who was bent on convicting a man who had pre- 
sumed to enter into competition with himself, in matters pertain- 
ing to the wilds, of gross ignorance ; “ turn the piece round and 
find your inside-overs.” 

The Doctor complied, and of course without success ; though 
he profited by the occasion to take another fruitless glance at 
the wrinkled hide. 

“ Well, friend, do you find the things you need, before you 
can pronounce the creatur’ a duck or a salmon P 

“ I apprehend the entire animal is not here ? ” 

“ You may well say as mjjch,” cried Paul, who was now 
compelled to pause from pure repletion : “ I will answer for 
some pounds of the fellow, weighed by the truest steel-yards 
west of the Alleghanies. Still you may make out to keep soul 
and body together with what is left,” reluctantly eyeing a piece 
large enough to feed twenty men, but which he felt compelled 
to abandon from satiety ; “ cut in nigher to the heart, as the old 
man says, and you will find the riches of the piece.” 

“The heart!” exclaimed the Doctor, inwardly delighted 
to learn there was a distinct organ tc be submitted to his 


THE PRAIRIE. 


123 


inspection. “ Ay, let me see the heart — it will at once deter- 
mine the character of the animal — certes this is not the cor — 
ay, sure enough it is — the animal must be of the order belluae, 
from its obese habits ! ” 

He was interrupted by a long and hearty, but still a noiseless 
fit of merriment, from the trapper, which was considered so ill- 
timed by the offended naturalist, as to produce an instant cessa- 
tion of speech, if not a stagnation of ideas. 

“ Listen to his beasts’ habits and belly orders,” said the old 
man, delighted with the evident embarrassment of his rival; 
“ and then he says it is not the core ! Why, man, you are 
further from the truth than you are from the settlements, with 
all your bookish laming and hard words ; which I have, once 
for all, said cannot be understood by any tribe or nation east 
of the Rocky Mountains. Beastly habits or no beastly habits, 
the creatur’s are to be seen croppiug the prairies by tens of 
thousands, and the piece in your hand is the core of as juicy a 
buffalo-hump as stomach need crave ! ” 

“ My aged companion,” said Obed, struggling to keep down 
a rising irascibility, that he conceived would ill comport with 
the dignity of his character, “ your system is erroneous, from 
the premises to the conclusion ; and your classification so faulty, 
as utterly to confound the distinctions of science. The buffalo 
is not gifted with a hump at all ; nor is his flesh savory and 
wholesome, as I must acknowledge it would seem the subject 

before us may well be characterized ” 

“ There I’m dead against you, and clearly with the trapper,” 
interrupted Paul Hover. “ The. man who denies that buffalo 
beef is good, should scorn to eat it ! ” * 

The Doctor, whose observation of the bee-hunter had hitherto 
been exceedingly cursory, stared at the new speaker with a look 
which denoted something like recognition. 

“ The principal characteristics of your countenance, friend,” 

* Jt is scarcely necessary to tell the reader, that the animal so often alluded to In 
this book, and which is vulgarly called the buffalo, is in truth the bison ; hence so 
many contre-tems between the men of the prairies and the men of science. 


124 


THE PRAIRIE. 


he said, “ are familiar ; either you, or some other specimen ef 
your class, is known to me.” 

“ I am the man you met in the woods east of the big river, 
md whom you tried to persuade to line a yellow hornet to his 
nest : as if my eye was not too true to mistake any other animal 
for a honey-bee, in a clear day ! We tarried together a week, 
as you may remember ; you at your toads and lizards, and I at 
my high-holes and hollow trees : and a good job we made of it 
between us ! I filled my tubs with the sweetest honey I ever 
sent to the settlements, besides housing a dozen hives ; and 
your bag was near bursting with a crawling museum. I never 
was bold enough to put the question to your face, stranger, but 
I reckon you are a keeper of curiosities ? ” * 

“ Ay ! that is another of their wanton wickednesses !” exclaimed 
the trapper. “ They slay the buck, and the moose, and the 
wild cat, and all the beasts that range the woods, and stuffing 
them with worthless rags, and placing eyes of glass into their 
heads, they set them up to be stared at, and call them the 
creatur’s of the Lord ; as if any mortal effigy could equal the 
works of his hand !” 

“ I know you well !” returned the Doctor, on whom the plaint 
of the old man produced no visible impression. “ I know you,” 
offering his hand cordially to Paul ; “ it was a prolific week, as 
my herbal and catalogues shall one day prove. Ay, I remem 
ber you well, young man. You are of the class , mammalia ; 
order , primates ; genus, homo ; species , Kentucky.” Pausing to 
smile at his own humor, the naturalist proceeded. “ Since our 
separation, I have journeyed far, having entered into a com- 
pactum or agreement with a certain man named Ishmael 


* The pursuit of a bee-hunter is not uncommon, on the skirts of American society, 
though it is a little embellished here. When the bees are seen sucking the flowers, 
their pursuer contrives to capture one or two. He then chooses a proper spot, and 
suffering one to escape, the insect invariably takes its flight towards the live. 
Changing his ground to a greater or less distance, according to circumstances, the 
bee hunter then permits another to escape. Having watched the courses of the 
bees, which is technically called lining, he s eualled to calculate the intersecting 
angle of the two lines, which Is the hive. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


125 


‘‘ Bush !” interrupted the impatient and reekless Paul. “ By 
the Lord, trapper, this is the very blood-letter that Ellen told 
me of !” 

“Then Nelly has not done me credit for what I trust I 
deserve,” returned the single-minded Doctor, “ for I am not of 
the phlebotomizing school at all ; greatly preferring the practice 
which purifies the blood instead of abstracting it.” 

“ It was a blunder of mine, good stranger; the girl called 
you a skilful man.” 

“ Therein she may have exceeded my merits,” Dr. Battius 
continued, bowing with sufficient meekness. “ But Ellen is a 
good, and a kind, and a spirited girl, too. A kind and a sweet 
girl I have ever found Nelly Wade to be !” 

“ The devil you have !” cried Paul, dropping the morsel he 
was sucking, from sheer reluctance to abandon the hump, and 
casting a fierce and direct look into the very teeth of the 
unconscious physician. “ I reckon, stranger, you have a mind 
to bag Ellen, too !” 

“ The riches of the whole vegetable and animal world united, 
would not tempt me to harm a hair of her head ! I love the 
child, with what may be called amor naturalis — or rather 
paternus — the affection of a father.” 

“ Ay — that, indeed, is more befitting the difference in your 
years,” Paul coolly rejoined, stretching forth his hand to regain 
the rejected morsel. “ You would be no better than a drone at 
your time of day, with a young hive to feed and swarm.” 

“ Yes, there is reason, because there is natur’, in what he 
says,” observed the trapper : “ but, friend, you have said you 
were a dweller in the camp of one Ishmael Bush ?” 

“ True ; it is in virtue of a compactum ” 

“ I know but little of the virtue of packing, though I follow 
trapping, in my old age, for a livelihood. They tell me that 
skins are well kept in the new fashion ; but it is long since I 
have left off killing more than I need for food and garments. 1 
was an eye-witness, myself, of the manner in which the Siouxes 
broke into your encampment, and drove off the cattle ; stripping 


126 


THE PRAIRIE. 


the poor man you call Islmael of his smallest hoofs, counting 
even the cloven feet.” 

“ Asinus excepted,” muttered the Doctor, who by this time 
was discussing his portion of the hump, in utter forgetfulness of 
all its scientific attributes. “Asinus domesticus Americanus 
excepted.” 

“ I am glad to hear that so many of them are saved, though 
I know not the value of the animals you name ; which is 
nothing uncommon, seeing how long it is that I have been out 
of the settlements. But can you tell me, friend, what the tra- 
veller carries under the white cloth, he guards with teeth as sharp 
as a wolf that quarrels for the carcase the hunter has left ?” 

“ You’ve heard of it !” exclaimed the other, dropping the 
morsel he was conveying to his mouth in manifest surprise. 

“Nay, I have heard nothing; but I have seen the cloth, and 
had like to have been bitten for no greater crime than wishing 
to know what it covered.” 

“ Bitten ! then, after all, the animal must be carnivorous ! It 
is too tranquil for the ursus horridus ; if it were the canis latrans 
the voice would betray it. Nor would Nelly Wade be so fami- 
liar with any of the genus ferae. Venerable hunter ! the solitary 
animal confined in that wagon by day, and in the tent at night, 
has occasioned me more perplexity of mind than the whole 
catalogue of quadrupeds besides : and for this plain reason ; I 
did not know how to class it.” 

“ You think it a ravenous beast ?” 

“I know it to be a quadruped : your own danger proves it 
to be carnivorous.” 

During this broken explanation Paul Hover had sat silent and 
thoughtful, regarding each speaker with deep attention. But, 
suddenly moved by the manner of the Doctor, the latter had 
scarcely time to utter his positive assertion, before the young 
man bluntly demanded — 

“ And pray, friend, what may you call a quadruped ?” 

“ A vagary of nature, wherein she has displayed less of her 
infinite wisdom than is usual. Could rotary lexers be substi- 


1HE PRAIRIE. 


127 


tuted for two of the limbs, agreeably to the improvement in my 
new order of phalangacrura, which might be rendered into the 
vernacular as lever-legged, there would be a delightful perfection 
and harmony in the construction. But as the quadruped 
is now formed, I call it a mere vagary of nature ; no other 
than a vagary.” 

“ ETarkee, stranger ! in Kentucky we are but small dealers 
in dictionaries. Vagary is as hard a word to turn into English 
as quadruped.” 

“ A quadruped is an animal with four legs — a beast.” 

“ A beast ! Do you then reckon that Ishmael Bush travels 
with a beast caged in that wagon ?” 

“ I know it ; and lend me your ear — not literally, friend,” 
observing Paul to start and look surprised ; “ but figuratively — 
through its functions, and you shall hear. I have already made 
known that, in virtue of a compactum, I journey with the afore- 
said Ishmael Bush ; but though I am bound to perform certain 
duties while the journey lasts, there is no condition which says 
that the said journey shall be sempiternum, or eternal. Now, 
though this region may scarcely be said to be wedded to science, 
being to all intents a virgin territory as respects the inquirer 
into natural history, still it is greatly destitute of the treasures 
of the vegetable kingdom. I should, therefore, have tarried 
some hundreds of miles more to the eastward, were it not for the 
inward propensity that I feel to have the beast in question 
inspected and suitably described and classed. For that matter,” 
he continued, dropping his voice like one who imparts an 
important secret, “I am not without hopes of persuading 
Ishmael to let me dissect it.” 

u You have seen the creature ?” 

“ Not with the organs of sight ; but with much more infallible 
instruments of vision: the conclusions of reason, and the 
deductions of scientific premises. I have watched the habits of 
the animal, young man; and can fearlessly pronounce, by 
evidence that would be thrown away on ordinary observers, that 
it is of vast dimensions, inactive, possibly torpid, of voracious 


12S 


THE PRAIRIE. 


appetite, and, as it now appears by the direct testimony of this 
venerable hunter, ferocious and carnivorous !” 

“ I should be better pleased, stranger,” said Paul, on whom 
the Doctor’s description was making a very sensible impression, 
“ to be sure the creature was a beast at all.” 

“ As to that, if I wanted evidence of a fact, which is abundantly 
apparent by the habits of the animal, I have the word of Ishmael 
himself. A reason can be given for my smallest deductions. I 
am not troubled, young man, with a vulgar and idle curiosity, 
but all my aspirations after knowledge, as I humbly believe, are 
first, for the advancement of learning, and secondly, for tho 
benefit of my fellow-creatures. I pined greatly in secret to know 
the contents of the tent, which Ishmael guarded so carefully, and 
which he had covenanted that I should swear ( jurare per deos) 
not to approach nigher than a defined number of cubits for a 
definite period of time. Your jusjurandum, or oath, is a serious 
matter, and not to be dealt in lightly ; but, as my expedition 
depended on complying, I consented to the act, reserving to 
myself at all times the power of distant observation. It is now 
some ten days since Ishmael, pitying the state in which he saw 
me, a humble lover of science, imparted the fact that the vehicle 
contained a beast, which he was carrying into the prairies as a 
decoy, by which he intends to entrap others of the same genus, 
or perhaps species. Since then my task has been reduced simply 
to watch the habits of the animal, and to record the results. 
When we reach a certain distance, where these beasts are said 
to abound, I am to have the liberal examination of the speci- 
man.” 

Paul continued to listen, in the most profound silence, until 
the Doctor concluded his singular but characteristic explana- 
tion ; then the incredulous bee-hunter shook his head, and saw 
fit to reply by saying — 

“ Stranger, old Ishmael has burrowed you in the very bottom 
of a hollow tree, where your eyes will be of no more use than 
the sting of a drone. I, too, know something of that very 
wagon, and I may say that I have lined the squatter down into 


THE PRAIRIE. 


129 


a flat lie. Harkee, friend; do you think a girl like Ellen 
Wade would become the companion of a wild beast?” 

“ Why not ? why not ?” repeated the naturalist ; “ Nelly has 
a taste, and often listens with pleasure to the treasures that I 
am sometimes compelled to scatter in this desert. Why should 
she not study the habits of any animal, even though it were a 
rhinoceros ?” 

“ Softly, softly,” returned the equally positive, and, though 
less scientific, certainly on this subject better instructed bee- 
hunter ; “ Ellen is a girl of spirit, and one too that knows her 
own mind, or I’m much mistaken ; but with all her courage 
and brave looks, she is no better than a woman after all. 
Haven’t I often had the girl crying ” 

“ You are an acquaintance, then, of Nelly’s ?” * 

“ The devil a bit. But I know woman is woman ; and all 
the books in Kentucky couldn’t make Ellen Wade go into a 
tent alone with a ravenous beast !” 

“ It seems to me,” the trapper calmly observed, “ that there 
is something dark and hidden in this matter. I am a witness 
that the traveller likes none to look into the tent, and I have 
proof more sure than what either of you can lay claim to, that 
the wagon does not carry the cage of a beast. Here is Hector, 
come of a breed with noses as true and faithful as a Hand that 
is all-powerful has made any of their kind, and had there been 
a beast in the place, the hound would long since have told it to 
his master.” 

“ Ho you pretend to oppose a dog to a man ! brutality to 
learning ! instinct to reason !” exclaimed the Doctor, in some 
heat. “ In what manner, pray, can a hound distinguish the 
habits, species, or even the genus of an animal, like reasoning, 
learned, scientific, triumphant man !” 

“ In w hat manner !” coolly repeated the veteran woodsman. 
« Listen ; and if you believe that a schoolmaster can make a 
quicker wit than the Lord, you shall be made to see how much 
you’re mistaken. Do you not hear something move in the 

6 * 


130 


THE PRAIRIE. 


brake ? it has been cracking the twigs these five minutes. Now 
tell me what the creatur is ?” 

“ I hope nothing ferocious !” exclaimed the Doctor, who still 
retained a lively impression of his rencounter with the vespertilio 
horribilis. “ You have rifles, friends ; would it not be prudent 
to prime them ? for this fowling-piece of mine is little to be 
depended on.” 

“There may be reason in what he says,” returned the 
trapper, so far complying as to take his piece from the place 
where it had lain during the repast, and raising its muzzle in 
the air. “ Now tell me the name of the creatur’ ?” 

“ It exceeds the limits of earthly knowledge ! Buffon himself 
could not tell whether the animal was a quadruped, or of the 
order serpens ! a sheep, or a tiger !” 

“ Then was your buffoon a fool to my Hector ! Here ; pup ! 
What is it, dog ? shall we run it down, pup, or shall we let it 
pass $” 

The hound, which had already manifested to the experienced 
trapper, by the tremulous motion of his ears, his consciousness 
of the proximity of a strange animal, lifted his head from his 
fore paws and slightly parted his lips, as if about to show the 
remnants of his teeth. But, suddenly abandoning his hostile 
purpose, he snuffed the air a moment, gaped heavily, shook 
himself, and peaceably resumed his recumbent attitude. 

“ Now, Doctor,” cried the trapper, triumphantly, “ I am well 
convinced there is neither game nor ravenous beast in the 
thicket ; and that I call substantial knowledge to a man who is 
too old to be a spendthrift of his strength, and yet who would 
not wish to be a meal for a panther !” 

The dog interrupted his master by a growl, but still kept his 
head crouched to the earth. 

“ It is a man !” exclaimed the trapper, rising. “ It is a man, 
if I am a judge of the creatur’s ways. There is but little said 
atwixt the hound and me, but we seldom mistake each other’s 
meaning !” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


131 


Paul Hover sprang to his feet like lightning ; and, throwing 
forward his rifle, he cried in a voice of menace — 

u Come forward, if a friend ; if an enemy, stand ready for the 
worst I” 

“ A friend, a white man, and, I hope, a Christian,” returned 
a voice from the thicket ; which opened at the same instant, 
and at the next the speaker made his appearance. 


132 


THE PRAIRIE, 


CHAPTER X. 


“ Go apart, Adam, and thou shalt hear 


How he will shake me up.” 


As YOU LIKE IT. 


It is well known, that even long before the immense regions 
of Louisiana changed their masters for the second, and, as it is 
to be hoped, for the last time, its unguarded territory was by 
no means safe from the inroads of white adventurers. The 
semi-barbarous hunters from the Canadas, the same description 
of population, a little more enlightened, from the States, and the 
metiffs or half-breeds, who claimed to be ranked in the class of 
white men, were scattered among the different Indian triber. or 
gleaned a scanty livelihood in solitude, amid the haunts of the 
beaver and the bison ; or, to adopt the popular nomenclature of 
the country — of the buffalo.* 

It was, therefore, no unusual thing for strangers to encounter 
each other in the endless wastes of the west. By signs which 
an unpractised eye would pass unobserved, a borderer knew 
when one of his fellows was in his vicinity, and he avoided 
or approached the intruder as best comported with his feelings 
or his interests. Generally, these interviews were pacific ; for 
the whites had a common enemy to dread, in the ancient and 
perhaps more lawful occupants of the country ; but instances 
were not rare, in which jealousy and cupidity had caused them 
to terminate in scenes of the most violent and ruthless treachery 
The meeting of two hunters on the American desert, as we fina 


* In addition to the scientific distinctions which mark the two species, it may be 
added, with due reference to Dr. Battius, that a much more important particular is 
the fact, that while the former of these animals is delicious and nourishing food, the 
latter is scarcely edible. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


133 


it convenient sometimes to call this region, was consequently 
somewhat in the suspicious and wary manner in which two 
vessels draw together in a sea that is known to be infested 
with pirates. While neither party is willing to betray its 
weakness, by exhibiting distrust, neither is disposed to commit 
itself by any acts of confidence, from which it may be difficult 
to recede. 

Such was, in some degree, the character of the present inter- 
view. The stranger drew nigh deliberately ; keeping his eyes 
steadily fastened on the movements of the other party, while he 
purposely created little difficulties to impede an approach which 
might prove too hasty. On the other hand, Paul stood playing 
with the lock of his rifle, too proud to let it appear that three 
men could manifest any apprehension of a solitary individual, 
and yet too prudent to omit ; entirely, the customary precautions. 
The principal reason of the marked difference which the two 
legitimate proprietors of the banqnet made in the receptions 
of their guests, was to be explained by the entire difference 
which existed in their respective appearances. 

While the exterior of the naturalist was decidedly pacific, not 
to say abstracted, that of the new comer was distinguished by 
an air of vigor, and a front and step which it would not have 
been difficult to have at once pronounced to be military. 

He wore a forage-cap of fine blue cloth, from which depended 
a soiled tassel in gold, and which was nearly buried in a mass 
of exuberant, curling, jet-black hair. Around his throat he had 
negligently fastened a stock of black silk. His body was 
enveloped in a hunting-shirt of dark green, trimmed with the 
yellow fringes and ornaments that were sometimes seen among 
the border-troops of the Confederacy. Beneath this, however, 
were visible the collar and lappels of a jacket, similar in color 
and cloth to the cap. His lower limbs were protected by 
buckskin leggings, and his feet by the ordinary Indian mocca- 
sins. A richly ornamented and exceedingly dangerous straight 
dirk was stuck in a sash of red silk network ; another girdle, or 
rather belt, of uncolored leather contained a pair of the smallest 


134 


THE PRAIRIE. 


sized pistols, in holsters nicely made to fit, and across his 
shoulder was thrown a short, heavy, military rifle ; its horn and 
pouch occupying the usual places beneath his arms. At his 
back he bore a knapsack, marked by the well known initials 
that have since gained for the government of the United 
States the good-humored and quaint appellation of Uncle Sam. 

“I come in amity,” the stranger said, like one too much 
accustomed to the sight of arms to be startled at the ludicrously 
belligerent attitude which Dr. Battius had seen fit to assume. 
“ I come as a friend ; and am one whose pursuits and wishes 
will not at all interfere with your own ” 

“Harkee, stranger,” said Paul Hover, bluntly; “do you 
understand lining a bee from this open place into a wood, 
distant, perhaps, a dozen miles ?” 

“ The bee is a bird I have never been compelled to seek,” 
returned the other, laughing ; “ though I have, too, been some- 
thing of a fowler in my time.” 

“ I thought as much,” exclaimed Paul, thrusting forth his 
hand frankly, and with the true freedom of manner that marks 
an American borderer. “ Let us cross fingers. You and I will 
never quarrel about the comb, since you set so little store by 
the honey. And now, if your stomach has an empty corner, 
and you know how to relish a genuine dew-drop when it falls 
into your very mouth, there lies the exact morsel to put into it. 
Try it, stranger ; and having tried it, if you don’t call it as snug 

a fit as you have made since How long are you from the 

settlements, pray ?” 

“ ’Tis many weeks, and I fear it may be as many more before 
I can return. I will, however, gladly profit by your invitation, 
for I have fasted since the rising of yesterday’s sun, and I know 
too well the merits of a bison’s hump to reject the food.” 

“ Ah ! you are acquainted with the dish ! Well, therein 
you have the advantage of me, in setting out, though I think I 
may say we could now start on equal ground. I should be the 
happiest fellow between Kentucky and the Rocky Mountains, if 
I had a snug cabin, near some old wood that was filled with 


THE PRAIRIE. 


135 


hollow trees, just such a hump every day as that for dinner, a 
load of fresh straw for hives, and little El ” 

“ Little what ?” demanded the stranger, evidently amused 
with the communicative and frank disposition of the bee-hunter. 

u Something that I shall have one day, and which concerns 
nobody so much as myself,” returned Paul, picking the flint of 
his rifle, and beginning very cavalierly to whistle an air well 
known on the waters of the Mississippi. 

During this preliminary discourse the stranger had taken his 
seat by the side of the hump, and was already making a serious 
inroad on its relics. Dr. Battius, however, watched his move- 
ments with a jealousy, still more striking than the cordial recep 
tion which the open-hearted Paul had just exhibited. 

But the doubts, or rather apprehensions, of the naturalist 
were of a character altogether different from the confidence of 
the bee-hunter. He had been struck with the stranger’s usinor 
the legitimate, instead of the perverted name of the animal off 
which he was making his repast ; and as he had been among 
the foremost himself to profit by the removal of the impedi- 
ments which the policy of Spain had placed in the way of all 
explorers of her trans-Atlantic dominions, whether bent on the 
purposes of commerce, or, like himself, on the more laudable 
pursuits of science, he had a sufficiency of every-day philosophy 
to feel that the same motives, which had so powerfully urged 
himself to his present undertaking, might produce a like result 
on the mind of some other student of nature. Here, then, was 
the prospect of an alarming rivalry, which bade fair to strip 
him of at least a moiety of the just rewards of all his labors, 
privations, and dangers. Under these views of his character, 
therefore, it is not at all surprising that the native meekness of 
the naturalist’s disposition was a little disturbed, and that 
he watched the proceedings of the other with such a degree 
of vigilance as he believed best suited to detect his sinister 
designs. 

“ This is truly a delicious repast,” observed the unconscious 
young stranger, for both young and handsome he was fairly 


136 


THE PRAIRIE. 


entitled to be considered ; “ either hunger has given a peculiar 
relish to the viand, or the bison may lay claim to be the finest 
of the ox family !” 

“ Naturalists, sir, are apt, when they speak familiarly, to give 
the cow the credit of the genus,” said Dr. Battius, swelling with 
secret distrust, and clearing his throat before speaking, much in 
the manner that a duellist examines the point of the weapon he 
is about to plunge into the body of his foe. “ The figure is 
more perfect ; as the bos, meaning the ox, is unable to perpe- 
tuate his kind ; and the bos, in its most extended meaning, or 
vacca, is altogether the nobler animal of the two.” 

The Doctor uttered this opinion with a certain air, that he 
intended should express his readiness to come, at once, to any 
of the numerous points of difference which he doubted not 
existed between them ; and he now awaited the blow of his 
antagonist, intending that his next thrust should be still 
more vigorous. But the young stranger appeared much better 
disposed to partake of the good cheer with which he had been 
so providentially provided, than to take up the cudgels of argu- 
ment on this, or on any other of the knotty points which are so 
apt to furnish the lovers of science with the materials of a men- 
tal joust. 

“ I dare say you are very right, sir,” he replied, with a most 
provoking indifference to the importance of the points he con- 
ceded. “ I dare say you are quite right ; and that vacca would 
have been the better word.” 

“ Pardon me, sir ; you are giving a very wrong construction 
to my language, if you suppose I include, without many and 
particular qualifications, the bibulus Americanus, in the family 
of the vacca. For, as you well know, sir — or, as I presume 
I should say, Doctor — you have the medical diploma, no 
doubt?” 

“ You give me credit for an honor I cannot claim,” inter- 
rupted the other. 

“ An under-graduate ! — or perhaps your degrees have been 
taken in some other of the liberal sciences ?” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


137 


“ Still wrong, I do assure you.” 

“ Surely, young man, you have not entered on this important 
—I may say, this awful service, without some evidence of your 
fitness for the task ! Some commission by which you can 
assert an authority to proceed, or by which you may claim an 
affinity and a communion with your fellow-workers in the same 
beneficent pursuits ! ” 

“ I know not by what means, or for what purposes, you have 
made yourself master of my objects ! ” exclaimed the youth, 
reddening and rising with a quickness which manifested how 
little he regarded the grosser appetites, when a subject nearer 
his heart was approached. “ Still, sir, your language is incom- 
prehensible. That pursuit, which in another might perhaps be 
justly called beneficent, is, in me, a dear and cherished duty ; 
though why a commission should be demanded or needed is, I 
confess, no less a subject of surprise.” 

“ It is customary to be provided with such a document,” 
returned the Doctor, gravely ; “ and, on all suitable occasions, 
co produce it, in order that congenial and friendly minds may, 
at once reject unworthy suspicions, and stepping over what 
may be called the elements of discourse, come at once to those 
points wffiich are desiderata to both.” 

“ It is a strange request ! ” the youth muttered, turning 
his frowning eye from one to the other, as if examining the 
characters of his companions, with a view to weigh their physical 
powers. Then, putting his hand into his bosom, he drew forth 
a small box, and extending it with an air of dignity towards the 
Doctor, he continued — “ You will find by this, sir, that I have 
some right to travel in a country which is now the property of 
the American States.” 

“ What have we here !” exclaimed the naturalist, opening the 
folds of a large parchment. “ Why, this is the sign-manual of 
the philosopher, Jefferson ! The seal of State ! Countersigned 
by the minister of war! Why this is- a commission creating 
Duncan Uncas Middleton a captain of artillery ! ” 

“ Of whom ? of whom ? ” repeated the trapper, who had sal 


138 


THE PRAIRIE. 


regarding the stranger, during the whole discourse, with eyes 
that seemed greedily to devour each lineament. “ How is the 
name ? did you call him Uncas ? — Uncas ! Was it Uncas ?” 

“ Such is my name,” returned the youth, a little haughtily. 
“ It is the appellation of a native chief, that both my uncle and 
myself bear with pride ; for it is the memorial of an important 
service done my family by a warrior in the old wars of the 
provinces.” 

“ Uncas ! did ye call him Uncas ?” repeatad the trapper, 
approaching the youth and parting the dark curls which clus- 
tered over his brow, without the slightest resistance on the part 
of their wondering owner. u Ah ! my eyes are old and not so 
keen as when I was a warrior myself ; but I can see the look of 
the father in the son ! I saw it when he first came nigh ; but 
so many things have since passed before my failing sight, that I 
could not name the place where I had met his likeness ! Tell 
me, lad, by what name is your father known ?” 

“ He was an officer of the States in the war of the revolution, 
and of my own name of course ; my mother’s brother was called 
Duncan Uncas Heyward.” 

“ Still Uncas ! still Uncas !” echoed the other, trembling with 
eagerness. “ And his father ?” 

“Was called the same, without the appellation of the native 
chief. It was to him, and to my grandmother, that the service 
of which I have just spoken was rendered.” 

“ I know’d it ! I know’d it ! ” shouted the old man, in his 
tremulous voice, his rigid features working powerfully, as if the 
names the other mentioned awakened some long dormant emo- 
tions, connected with the events of an anterior age. “ I know’d 
it ! son or grandson, it is all the same ; it is the blood, and ’tis 
the look ! Tell me, is he they call’d Duncan, without the Uncas 
— is he living ? ” 

The young man shook his head sorrowfully, as he replied in 
the negative. 

“ He died full of days and of honors. Beloved, happy, and 
bestowing happiness ! ” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


139 


“Full of days!” repeated the trapper, looking down at his 
own meagre, but still muscular hands. “Ah! he lived in the 
settlements, and was wise only after their fashions. But you 
have often seen him ; and you have heard him discourse of 
Uncas, and of the wilderness ? ” 

“ Often ! he was then an officer of the king ; but when the 
war took place between the crown and her colonies, my grand- 
father did not forget his birthplace, but threw off the empty 
allegiance of names, and was true to his proper country ; he 
fought on the side of liberty.” 

“ There was reason in it, and what is better, there was natur’ !* 
Come, sit ye down beside me, lad ; sit ye down, and tell me of 
what your grand’ ther used to speak when his mind dwelt on the 
wonders of the wilderness.” 

The youth smiled, no less at the importunity than at the 
interest manifested by the old man ; but as he found there was 
no longer the least appearance of any violence being contem- 
plated, he unhesitatingly complied. 

“ Give it all to the trapper, by rule, and by figures of speech,” 
said Paul, very coolly taking his seat on the other side of the 
young soldier. “ It is the fashion of old age to relish these 
ancient traditions, and for that matter I can say that I don’t 
dislike to listen to them myself.” 

Middleton smiled again, and perhaps with a slight air of 
derision ; but good-naturedly turning to the trapper he continued, 

“ It is a long, and might prove a painful story. Bloodshed 
and all the horrors of Indian cruelty and of Indian warfare are 
fearfully mingled in the narrative.” 

“ Ay, give it all to us, stranger,” continued Paul ; “ we are 
used to these matters in Kentuck, and I must say I think a story 
none the worse for having a few scalps in it.” 

“ But he told you of Uncas, did he ?” resumed the trapper, 
without regarding the slight interruptions of the bee-hunter, 
which amounted to no more than a sort of by-play. “ And what 
thought he and said he of the lad, in his parlor, with the com- 
forts and ease of the settlements at his elbow ?” 


140 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ I doubt not he used a language similar to tha^ he would 
have adopted in the woods, and had he stood face to face with 
his friend ” 

“ Did he call the savage his friend ; the poor, naked, painted 
warrior? he was not too proud, then, to call the Indian his 
friend ?” 

“ He even boasted of the connexion ; and as you have already 
heard, bestowed a name on his first-born, which is likely to be 
handed down as an heir-loom among the rest of his descend- 
ants.” 

“ It was well done ! like a man ; ay ! and like a Christian, 
too ? He used to say the Delaware was swift of foot — did ho 
remember that?” 

“ As the antelope ! Indeed, he often spoke of him by the 
appellation of Le Cerf Agile, a name he had obtained by his 
activity.” 

“ And bold, and fearless, lad !” continued the trapper, looking 
up into the eyes of his companion, with a wistfulness that 
bespoke the delight he received in listening to the praises of 
one, whom it was so very evident he had once tenderly loved. 

“ Brave as a blooded hound ! Without fear ! He always 
quoted Uncas and his father, who from his wisdom was called 
the Great Serpent, as models of heroism and constancy.” 

“He did them justice! he did them justice! Truer men 
were not to be found in tribe or nation, be their skins of what 
color they might. I see your grand’ther was just, and did his 
duty, too, by his offspring ! ’Twas a perilous time he had of it, 
among them hills, and nobly did he play his own part ! Tell 
me, lad, or officer, I should say, — since officer you be, — was this 
all ?” 

“ Certainly not ; it was, as I have said, a fearful tale full of 
moving incidents, and the memories both of my grandfather and 
of my grandmother ” 

“ Ah !” exclaimed the trapper, tossing a hand into the air as 
his whole countenance lighted with the recollections the name 
revived. “ They called her Alice ! Elsie or Alice ; ’tis all the 


THE PRAIRIE. 


141 


&ame. A laughing, playful child she was, when happy ; and 
tender and weeping in her misery ! Her hair was shining and 
yellow, as the coat of the young fawn, and her skin clearer than 
the purest water that drips from the rock. Well do I remember 
her ! I remember her right well !” 

The lip of the youth slightly curled, and he regarded the old 
man with an expression, which might easily have been construed 
into a declaration that such were not his own recollections of his 
venerable and revered ancestor, though it would seem he did 
not think it necessary to say as much in words. He was 
content to answer — 

“ They both retained impressions of the dangers they had 
passed, by far too vivid easily to lose the recollection of any of 
their fellow-actors.” 

The trapper looked aside, and seemed to struggle with some 
deeply innate feeling ; then, turning again towards his com- 
panion, though his honest eyes no longer dwelt with the same 
open interest, as before, on the countenance of the other, he 
continued — 

“ Did he tell you of them all ? Were they all red-skins, 
but himself and the daughters of Munro ?” 

“ No. There was a white man associated with the Delawares. 
A scout of the English army, but a native of the provinces.” 

“ A drunken, worthless vagabond, like most of his color who 
harbor with the savages, I warrant you !” 

“ Old man, your grey hairs should caution you against slander. 
The man I speak of was of great simplicity of mind, but of 
sterling worth. Unlike most of those who live a border life, he 
united the better instead of the worst qualities of the two people. 
He was a man endowed with the choicest and perhaps rarest gift 
of nature ; that of distinguishing good from evil. His virtues 
were those of simplicity, because such were the fruits of his habits, 
as were indeed his very prejudices. In courage he was the 
equal of his red associates ; in warlike skill, being better instructed, 
their superior. ‘ In short, he was a noble shoot from the stock 
of human nature, which never could attain its proper elevation 


142 


THE PRAIRIE. 


and importance, for no other reason, than because it grew in 
the forest such, old hunter, were the very words of my grand- 
father, when speaking of the man you imagine so worthless !” 

The eyes of the trapper had sunk to the earth, as the stranger 
delivered this character in the ardent tones of generous youth. 
He played with the ears of his hound, fingered his own rustic 
garment, and opened and shut the pan of his rifle, with hands 
that trembled in a manner that would have implied their total 
unfitness to wield the weapon. When the other had concluded, 
he hoarsely added — 

“ Your grand’ther didn’t then entirely forget the white man ; /J 

“ So far from that, there are already three among us, who 
have also names derived from that scout.” 

“ A name, did you say ?” exclaimed the old man, starting ; 
“ what, the name of the solitary, unl’arned hunter ? Do the 
great, and the rich, and the honored, and, what is better still, 
the just, do they bear his very, actual name ?” 

“ It is borne by my brother, and by two of my cousins, what- 
ever may be their titles to be described by the terms you have 
mentioned.” 

“Do you mean the actual name itself; spelt with the very 
same letters, beginning with an N and ending with an L ?” 

“Exactly the same,” the youth smilingly replied. “No, no, 
we have forgotten nothing that was his. I have at this moment 
a dog brushing a deer, not far from this, who is come of a hound 
that very scout sent as a present after his friends, and which 
was of the stock he always used himself ; a truer breed, in nose 
and foot, is not to be found in the wide Union.” 

“ Hector !” said the old man, struggling to conquer an emo- 
tion that nearly suffocated him, and speaking to his hound in 
the sort of tones he would have used to a child, “ do ye hear 
that, pup ! your kin and blood are in the prairies ! A name — 
it is wonderful — very wonderful !” 

Nature could endure no more. Overcome by a flood of 
unusual and extraordinary sensations, and stimulated by tender 
and long dormant recollections, strangely and unexpectedly 


THE PRAIRIE. 


143 


revived, the old man had just self-command enough to add, 
in a voice that was hollow and unnatural, through the efforts he 
made to command it — 

“ Boy, I am that scout ; a warrior once, a miserable trapper 
now !” when the tears broke over his wasted cheeks, out of foun- 
tains that had long been dried, and, sinking his face between his 
knees, he covered it decently with his buckskin garment, and 
sobbed aloud. 

The spectacle produced correspondent emotions in his com- 
panions. Paul Hover had actually swallowed each syllable of 
the discourse as they fell alternately from the different speakers, 
his feelings keeping equal pace with the increasing interest of the 
scene. Unused to such strange sensations, he was turning his 
face on every side of him, to avoid he knew not what, until he 
saw the tears and heard the sobs of the old man, when he sprang 
to his feet, and grappling his guest fiercely by the throat, he 
demanded by what authority he had made his aged companion 
weep. A flash of recollection crossing his brain at the same 
instant, he released his hold, and stretching forth an arm in the 
very wanton ness of gratification, he seized the Doctor by the 
hair, which instantly revealed its artificial formation, by cleav- 
ing to his hand, leaving the white and shining poll of the 
naturalist with a covering no warmer than the skin. 

“ What think you of that, Mr. Bug-gatherer ?” he rather 
shouted than cried : “ is not this a strange bee to line into his 
hole ?” 

“ ’Tis remarkable ! wonderful ! edifying !” returned the lover 
of nature, good-humoredly recovering his wig, with twinkling 
eyes and a husky voice. “ ’Tis rare and commendable ! Though 
I doubt not in the exact order of causes and effects.” 

With this sudden outbreaking, however, the commotion 
instantly subsided ; the three spectators clustering around the 
trapper with a species of awe at beholding the tears of one so 
aged. 

“ It must be so, or how could he be so familiar with a history 
that is little known beyond my own family,” at length the 


144 


THE PRAIRIE. 


youth observed, not ashamed to acknowledge how much he had 
been affected, by unequivocally drying his own eyes. 

“True!” echoed Paul; “if you want anymore evidence I 
will swear to it ! I know every word of it myself to be true 
the gospel !” 

“ And yet we had long supposed him dead !” continued the 
soldier. “ My grandfather had filled his days with honor, and 
he had believed himself the junior of the two.” 

“It is not often that youth has an opportunity of thus 
looking down on the weakness of age !” the trapper observed, 
raising his head, and looking around him with composure 
and dignity. “ That I am still here, young man, is the 
pleasure of the Lord, who has spared me until I have seen 
fourscore long and laborious years, for his own secret ends. That 
I am the man I say, you need not doubt; for why should I go 
to my grave with so cheap a lie in my mouth ?” 

“ I do not hesitate to believe ; I only marvel that it should be 
so ! But why do I find you, venerable and excellent friend of 
my parents, in these wastes, so far from the comforts and safety 
of the lower country ?” 

“ I have come into these plains to escape the sound ot the 
axe ; for here, surely, the chopper can never follow ! But I 
may put the like question to yourself. Are you of the party 
which the States have sent into their new purchase, to look after 
the natur’ of the bargain they have made ?” 

“I am not. Lewis is making his way up the river, 
some hundreds of miles from this. I come on a private 
adventure.” 

“ Though it is no cause of wonder that a man whose strength 
and eyes have failed him as a hunter, should be seen nigh the 
haunts of the beaver, using a trap instead of a rifle, it is strange 
that one so young and prosperous, and bearing the commission 
of the Great Father, should be moving among the prairies, 
without even a camp-colorman to do his biddings !” 

“ You w r ould think my reasons sufficient did you know them, 
as know them you shall, if you are disposed to listen to my 


THE PRAIRIE. 


145 


story. I think you all honest, and men who would rather aid 
than betray one bent on a worthy object.” 

“ Come, then, and tell us at your leisure,” said the trapper, 
seating himself, and beckoning to the youth to follow his 
example. The latter willingly complied ; and after Paul and 
the Doctor had disposed of themselves to their several likings, 
the new comer entered into a narrative of the singular reasons 
which had led him so far into the deserts. 

1 


146 


THE PRAIRIE. 


CHAPTER XL 

“ So foul a sky clears not without a storm. 

Kino John. 

In the meantime the industrious and irreclaimable hours con- 
tinued their labors. The sun, which had been struggling through 
such masses of vapor throughout the day, fell slowly into a streak 
of clear sky, and thence sank gloriously into the gloomy wastes, 
as he is wont to settle into the waters of the ocean. The vast 
herds which had been grazing among the wild pastures of the 
prairies, gradually disappeared, and the endless flocks of aquatic 
birds, that were pursuing their customary annual journey from 
the virgin lakes of the north towards the Gulf of Mexico, ceased 
to fan that air, which had now become loaded with dew and 
vapor. In short, the shadows of night fell upon the rock, add- 
ing the mantle of darkness to the other dreary accompaniments 
of the place. 

As the light began to fail, Esther collected her younger child- 
ren at her side, and placing herself on a projecting point of her 
insulated fortress, she sat patiently awaiting the return of the 
hunters. Ellen Wade was at no great distance, seeming to keep 
a little aloof from the anxious circle, as if willing to mark the 
distinction which existed in their characters. 

“ Your uncle is, and always will be, a dull calculator, Yell,” 
observed the mother, after a long pause in a conversation that 
had turned on the labors of the day ; “ a lazy hand at figures 
and foreknowledge is that said Ishmael Bush ! Here he sat 
lolloping about the rock from light till noon, doing nothing but 
scheme — scheme — scheme — with seven as noble boys at his 
elbows as woman ever gave to man ; and what’s the upshot ? 
why, night is setting in, and his needful work not yet ended.” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


147 


u It is not prudent, certainly, aunt,” Ellen replied, with a 
vacancy in her air, that proved how little she knew what she 
was saying ; “ and it is setting a very bad example to his sons.” 

“ Hoity toity, girl ! who has reared you up as a judge over 
your elders, ay, and your betters, too ! I should like to see the 
man on the whole frontier, who sets a more honest example to 
his children than this same Ishmael Bush ! Show me, if you 
can, Miss Fault-finder, but not fault-mender, a set of boys who 
will, on occasion, sooner chop a piece of logging and dress it for 
the crop, than my own children ; though I say it myself, who, 
perhaps, should be silent ; or a cradler that knows better how to 
lead a gang of hands through a field of wheat, leaving a cleaner 
stubble in his track, than my own good man ! Then, as a father, 
he is as generous as a lord ; for his sons have only to name the 
spot where they would like to pitch, and he gives ’em a deed of 
the plantation, and no charge for papers is ever made !” 

As the wife of the squatter concluded, she raised a hollow, 
taunting laugh, that was echoed from the mouths of several 
juvenile imitators, whom she was training to a life as shiftless 
and lawless as her own ; but which, notwithstanding its uncer- 
tainty, was not without its secret charms. 

“ Holloa ! old Eester,” shouted the well known voice of her 
husband, from the plain beneath ; “ ar’ you keeping your junkets, 
while we are finding you in venison and buffalo beef? Come 
down — come down, old girl, with all your young, and lend us a 
hand to carry up the meat ; why, what a frolic you ar’ in, 
woman ! Come down, come down, for the boys are at hand, 
and we have work here for double your number.” 

Ishmael might have spared his lungs more than a moiety of 
the effort they were compelled to make in order that he should 
oe heard. He had hardly uttered the name of his wife, before 
the whole of the crouching circle rose in a body, and tumbling 
over each other, they precipitated themselves down the danger- 
ous passes of the rock with ungovernable impatience. Esther 
followed the young fry with a more measured gait ; nor did 
Ellen deem it wise, or rather discreet, to remain behind. Con- 


148 


THE PRAIRIE. 


sequently, the whole were soon assembled at the base of the 
citadel, on the open plain. 

Here the squatter was found, staggering under the weight of 
a fine, fat buck, attended by one or two of his younger sons. 
Abiram quickly appeared, and before many minutes had elapsed, 
most of the hunters dropped in, singly and in pairs, each man 
bringing with him some fruits of his prowess in the field. 

“ The plain is free from red-skins, to-night at least,” said Ish- 
mael, after the bustle of reception had a little subsided ; u for I 
have scoured the prairie for many long miles, on my own feet, 
and I call myself a judge of the print of an Indian moccasin. 
So, old woman, you can give us a few steaks of the venison, and 
then we will sleep on the day’s work.” 

“ I’ll not swear there are no savages near us,” said Abiram. 
“ I, too, know something of the trail of a red-skin ; and, unless 
my eyes have lost some of their sight, I would swear, boldly, 
that there ar’ Indians at hand. But wait till Asa comes in. He 
pass’d the spot where I found the marks, and the boy knows 
something of such matters, too.” 

“ Ay, the boy knows too much of many things,” returned 
Ishmael, gloomily. “ It will be better for him when he thinks 
he knows less. But what matters it, Hetty, if all the Sioux 
tribes west of the big river are within a mile of us ; they will 
find it no easy matter to scale this rock in the teeth of ten bold 
men.” 

“ Call ’em twelve at once, Ishmael ; call ’em twelve !” cried 
his termagant assistant. “ For if your moth-gathering, bug- 
hunting friend can be counted a man, I beg you will set me 
down as two. I will not turn my back to him with the rifle or 
the shot-gun ; and for courage ! — the yearling heifer, that them 
skulking devils the Tetons stole, was the biggest coward among 
us all, and after her came your drivelling doctor. Ah ! Ishmael, 
you rarely attempt a regular trade but you come out the loser ; 
and this man, I reckon, is the hardest bargain among them all ! 
Would you think it, the fellow ordered me a blister around my 
mouth, because I complained of a pain in the foot ?” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


149 


“ It is a pity, Eester,” the husband coolly answered, “ that 
you did not take it ; I reckon that it would have done conside- 
rably good. But, boys, if it should turn out as Abiram thinks, 
that there are Indians near us, we may have to scamper up the 
rock, and lose our suppers after all ; therefore, we will make 
sure of the game, and talk over the performances of the Doctor 
when we have nothing better to do.” 

The hint was taken ; and in a few minutes the exposed situa* 
tion in which the family was collected, was exchanged for the 
more secure elevation of the rock. Here Esther busied herself, 
working and scolding with equal industry, until the repast was 
prepared ; when she summoned her husband to his meal in a voice 
as sonorous as that with which the Imaum reminds the Faithful 
of a more important duty. 

When each had assumed his proper and customary placg 
around the smoking viands, the squatter set the example by 
beginning to partake of a delicious venison steak, prepared like 
the hump of the bison, with a skill that rather increased than 
concealed its natural properties. A painter would gladly have 
seized the moment to transfer the wild and characteristic scene 
to the canvas. 

The reader will remember that the citadel of Ishmael stood 
insulated, lofty, ragged, and nearly inaccessible. • A bright 
flashing fire that was burning on the centre of its summit, and 
around which the busy group was clustered, lent it the appear- 
ance of some tall Pharos placed in the centre of the deserts, to 
light such adventurers as wandered through their broad wastes. 
The flashing flame gleamed from one sun-burnt countenance to 
another, exhibiting every variety of expression, from the juvenile 
simplicity of the children, mingled, as it was, with a shade of 
the wildness peculiar to their semi-barbarous lives, to the dull 
and immovable apathy that dwelt on the features of the squatter 
when unexcited. Occasionally a gust of wind would fan the 
embers ; and, as a brighter light shot upwards, the little solitary 
tent was seen as it were suspended in the gloom of the uppei 


150 


THE PRAIRIE. 


air. All beyond was enveloped, as usual at that hour, in an 
impenetrable body of darkness. 

“ It is unaccountable that Asa should choose to be out of the 
way at such a time as this,” Esther pettishly observed. “ When 
all is finished and to rights, we shall have the boy coming up, 
grumbling for his meal, and hungry as a bear after his winter’s 
nap. His stomach is as true as the best clock in Kentucky, 
and seldom wants winding up to tell the time whether of day 
or night. A desperate eater is Asa, when a-hungered by a 
little work !” 

Ishmael looked sternly around the circle of his silent sons, as 
if to see whether any among them would presume to say aught 
in favor of the absent delinquent. But now, when no exciting 
causes existed to arouse their slumbering tempers, it seemed to 
be too great an effort to enter on the defence of their rebellious 
brother. Abiram, however, who, since the pacification, either 
felt, or affected to feel, a more generous interest in his late 
adversary, saw fit to express an anxiety, to which the others 
were strangers — 

“ It will be well if the boy has escaped the Tetons !” he mut- 
tered. “ I should be sorry to have Asa, who is one of the 
stoutest of our party, both in heart and hand, fall into the 
power of the red devils.” 

“ Look to yourself, Abiram ; and spare your breath, if you 
can use it only to frighten the woman and her huddling girls. 
You have whitened the face of Ellen Wade, already ; who looks 
as pale as if she was staring to-day at the very Indians you 
name, when I was forced to speak to her through the rifle, 
because I could n’t reach her ears with my tongue. How was 
it, Nell ! you have never given the reason of your deafness ?” 

The color of Ellen’s cheek changed as suddenly as the squat- 
ter’s piece had flashed on the occasion to which he alluded, 
the burning glow suffusing her features, until it even mantled 
her throat with its fine healthful tinge. She hung her head 
abashed, but did not seem to think it needful to reply. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


151 


Ishmael, too sluggish to pursue the subject, or content with 
the pointed allusion he had just made, rose from his seat on the 
rock, and stretching his heavy frame, like a well-fed and fat- 
tened ox, he announced his intention to sleep. Among a race 
who lived chiefly for the indulgence of the natural wants, such 
a declaration could not fail of meeting with sympathetic dispo- 
sitions. One after another disappeared, each seeking his or 
her rude dormitory ; and, before many minutes, Esther, who by 
this time had scolded the younger fry to sleep, found herself, 
if we except the usual watchman below, in solitary possession 
of the naked rock. 

Whatever less valuable fruits had been produced in this 
uneducated woman by her migratory habits, the great principle 
of female nature was too deeply rooted ever to be entirely erad- 
icated. Of a powerful, not to say fierce temperament, her 
passions were violent and difficult to be smothered. But, how- 
ever she might and did abuse the accidental prerogatives of her 
situation, love for her offspring, while it often slumbered, could 
never be said to become extinct. She liked not the protracted 
absence of Asa. Too fearless herself to have hesitated an instant 
on her own account about crossing the dark abyss, into which 
she now sat looking with longing eyes, her busy imagination, 
in obedience to this inextinguishable sentiment, began to con- 
jure nameless evils on account of her son. It might be true, 
as Abiram had hinted, that he had become a captive to some 
of the tribes who were hunting the buffalo in that vicinity, or 
even a still more dreadful calamity might have befallen. So 
thought the mother, while silence and darkness lent their aid 
to the secret impulses of nature. 

Agitated by these reflections, which put sleep at defiance, 
Esther continued at her post, listening with that sort of acute- 
ness which is termed instinct in the animals a few degrees below 
her in the scale of intelligence, for any of those noises which 
might indicate the approach of footsteps. At length, her 
wishes had an appearance of being realized, for the long desired 


152 


THE PRAIRIE. 


sounds were distinctly audible, and presently she distinguished 
the dim form of a man at the base of the rock. 

“ Now, Asa, richly do you deserve to be left with an earthen 
bed this blessed night ! ” the woman began to mutter, with a 
revolution in her feelings that will not be surprising to those 
who have made the contradictions that give variety to the 
human character a study. “ And a hard one I’ve a mind it shall 
be ! Why Abner ; Abner ; you Abner ; do you sleep ? Let 
me not see you dare to open the hole, till I get down. I will 
know who it is that wishes to disturb a peaceable, ay, and an 
honest family too, at such a time in the night as this ! ” 

“ Woman !” exclaimed a voice, that intended to bluster, while 
the speaker was manifestly a little apprehensive of the conse- 
quences ; “ Woman, I forbid you on pain of the law to project 
any of your infernal missiles. I am a citizen, and a freeholder, 
and a graduate of two universities ; and I stand upon my 
rights ! Beware of malice prepense, of chance-medley, and of 
manslaughter. It is I — your amicus ; a friend and inmate. I 
— Dr. Obed Battius ” 

“ Who ? ” demanded Esther, in a voice that nearly refused to 
convey her words to the ears of the anxious listener beneath. 
“ Did you say it was not Asa ? ” 

“Nay, I am neither Asa, nor Absalom, nor any of the 
Hebrew princes, but Obed, the root and stock of them all. 
Have I not said, woman, that you keep one in attendance who 
is entitled to a peaceable as well as an honorable admission ? 
Do you take me for an animal of the class amphibia, and 
that I can play with my lungs as a blacksmith does with his 
bellows ? ” 

The naturalist might have expended his breath much longer 
without producing any desirable result, had Esther been his only 
auditor. Disappointed and alarmed, the woman had already 
sought her pallet, and was preparing, with a sort of desperate 
indifference, to compose herself to sleep. Abner, the sentinel 
below, however, had been aroused from an exceedingly equivocal 


THE PRAIRIE. 


153 


situation by the outcry ; and as he had now regained sufficient 
consciousness to recognise the voice of the physician, the latter 
was admitted with the least possible delay. Dr. Battius bustled 
through the narrow entrance with an air of singular impatience, 
and was already beginning to mount the difficult ascent, when 
catching a view of the porter, he paused, to observe with an air 
that he intended should be impressively admonitory — 

“ Abner, there are dangerous symptoms of somnolency about 
thee 1 It is sufficiently exhibited in the tendency to hiation, 
and may prove dangerous not only to yourself, but to all thy 
father’s family.” 

“ You never made a greater mistake, Doctor,” returned the 
youth, gaping like an indolent lion ; “ I haven’t a symptom, as 
you call it, about any part of me ; and as to father and the 
children, I reckon the small-pox and the measles have been 
thoroughly through the breed these many months ago.” 

Content with his brief admonition, the naturalist had sur- 
mounted half the difficulties of the ascent before the deliberate 
Abner ended his justification. On the summit, Obed fully 
expected to encounter Esther, of whose linguacious powers he 
had too often been furnished with the most sinister proofs, and 
of which he stood in an awe too salutary to covet a repetition 
of the attacks. The reader can foresee that he was to be agree- 
ably disappointed. Treading lightly, and looking timidly over 
his shoulder, as if he apprehended a shower of something even 
more formidable than words, the Doctor proceeded to the place 
which had been allotted to himself in the general disposition of 
the dormitories. 

Instead of sleeping, the worthy naturalist sat ruminating over 
what he had both seen and heard that day, until the tossing 
and mutterings which proceeded from the cabin of Esther, who 
was his nearest neighbor, advertised him of the wakeful situa- 
tion of its inmate. Perceiving the necessity of doing something 
to disarm this female Cerberus, before his own purpose could 
be accomplished, the Doctor, reluctant as he was to encounter 

1 * 


154 


THE PRAIRIE. 


her tongue, found himself compelled to invite a colloquial com- 
munication. 

“ You appear not to sleep, my very kind and worthy Mrs. 
Bush,” he said, determined to commence his applications with a 
plaster that was usually found to adhere ; “ you appear to rest 
badly, my excellent hostess ; can I administer to your ailings V 1 

“ What would you give me, man 2” grumbled Esther ; “ a 
blister to make me sleep ? ” 

“ Say rather a cataplasm. But if you are in pain, here are 
some cordial drops, which, taken in a glass of my own cognac* 
will give you rest, if I know aught of the materia medica.” 

The Doctor, as he very well knew, had assailed Esther on her 
weak side ; and as he doubted not of the acceptable quality of 
his prescription, he set himself at work, without unnecessary 
delay, to prepare it. When he made his offering, it was 
received in a snappish and threatening manner, but swallowed 
with a facility that sufficiently proclaimed how much it was 
relished. The woman muttered her thanks, and her leech 
reseated himself in silence, to await the operation of the dose. 
In less than half an hour the breathing of Esther became so 
profound, and, as the Doctor himself might have termed it, so 
very abstracted, that had he not known how easy it was to 
ascribe this new instance of somnolency to the powerful dose of 
opium with which he had garnished the brandy, he might have 
seen reason to distrust his own prescription. With the sleep of 
the restless woman, the stillness became profound and general. 

Then Dr. Battius saw fit to arise, with the silence and caution 
of the midnight robber, and to steal out of his own cabin, or rather 
kennel, for it deserved no better name, towards the adjoining 
dormitories. Here he took time to assure himself that all his 
neighbors were buried in deep sleep. Once advised of this 
important fact, he hesitated no longer, but commenced the diffi- 
cult ascent which led to the upper pinnacle of the rock. His 
advance, though abundantly guarded, was not entirely noiseless ; 
but while he was felicitating himself on having successfully 


THE PRAIRIE. 


155 


effected his object, and he was in the very act of placing his foot 
on the highest ledge, a hand was laid upon the skirts of his 
coat, which as effectually put an end to his advance, as if the 
gigantic strength of Ishmael himself had pinned him to the 
earth. 

“ Is there sickness in the tent,” whispered a soft voice in his 
very ear, “ that Dr. Battius is called to visit it at such an 
hour ?” 

So soon as the heart of the naturalist had returned from its hasty 
expedition into his throat, as one less skilled than Dr. Battius 
in the formation of the animal would have been apt to have 
accounted for the extraordinary sensation with which he received 
this unlooked-for interruption, he found resolution to reply; 
using, as much in terror as in prudence, the same precaution in 
the indulgence of his voice. 

“ My worthy Nelly ! I am greatly rejoiced to find it is no 
other than thee. Hist, child, hist! Should Ishmael gain a 
knowledge of our plans, he would not hesitate to cast us both 
from this rock, upon the plain beneath. Hist ! Nelly, hist !” 

As the Doctor delivered his injunctions between the intervals 
of his ascent,, by the time they were concluded, both he and his 
auditor had gained the upper level. 

“ And how, Dr. Battius,” the girl gravely demanded, “ may I 
know the reason why you have run so great a risk of flying 
from this place, without wings, and at the certain expense of 
your neck ? ” 

“ Nothing shall be concealed from thee, worthy and trusty 
Nelly — but are you certain that Ishmael will not awake ?” 

“No fear of him ; he will sleep until the sun scorches his 
eyelids. The danger is from my aunt.” 

“ Esther sleepeth ! ” the Doctor sententiously replied. “ Ellen, 
you have been watching on this rock to-day ? ” 

“ I was ordered to do so.” 

“ And you have seen the bison, and the antelope, and the 
wolf, and the deer, as usual; animals of the orders pecora, 
pelluae, and ferae.” 


156 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“I have seen the creatures you named in English, but 1 
know nothing of the Indian languages.” 

“ There is still an order that I have not named, which you 
have also seen. The primates — is it not true ?” 

“ I cannot say. I know no animal by that name.” 

“ Nay, Ellen, you confer with a friend. Of the genus homo, 
3hild?” 

“ Whatever else I may have had in view, I have not seen 
the vespertilio horribi ” 

“ Hush, Nelly, thy vivacity will betray us ! Tell me, girl, 
have you not seen certain bipeds , called men , wandering about 
the prairies ?” 

“Surely. My uncle and his sons have been hunting the 
buffalo, since the sun began to fall.” 

“ I must speak in the vernacular, to be comprehended. Ellen, 
I would say of the species Kentucky.” 

Though Ellen reddened like the rose, her blushes were con- 
cealed by the darkness. She hesitated an instant, and then 
summoned sufficient spirit to say decidedly — • 

“ If you wish to speak in parables, Doctor Battius, you must 
find another listener. Put your questions plainly in English, 
and I will answer them honestly in the same tongue.” 

“I have been journeying in this desert, as thou knowest, 
Nelly, in quest of animals that have been hidden from the eyes 
of science, until now. Among others, I have discovered a 
primates, of the genus , homo ; species , Kentucky ; which I term 

Paul ” 

“ Hist, for the sake of mercy !” said Ellen ; “ speak lower, 
Doctor, or we shall be ruined.” 

“ Hover : by profession a collector of the apes, or bee,” con- 
tinued the other. “Do I use the vernacular now, — am I 
understood ?” 

“Perfectly, perfectly,” returned the girl, breathing with 
difficulty, in her surprise. “ But what of him ? did he tell you 
to mount this rock ? — he knows nothing, himself ; for the oath 
I gave my uncle has shut my mouth.” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


157 


“Ay, but there is one that has taken no oath, who nas 
revealed all. I would that the mantle which is wrapped around 
the mysteries of nature, were as effectually withdrawn from its 
hidden treasures ! Ellen ! Ellen ! the man with whom I have 
unwittingly formed a compactum, or agreement, is sadly 
forgetful of the obligations of honesty ! Thy uncle, child.” 

“You mean Ishmael Bush, my father’s brother’s widow’s 
husband,” returned the offended girl, a little proudly. — “ Indeed, 
indeed, it is cruel to reproach me with a tie that chance has 
formed, and which I would rejoice so much to break for ever !” 

The humbled Ellen could utter no more, but sinking on a 
projection of the rock, she began to sob in a manner that ren- 
dered their situation doubly critical. The Doctor muttered a 
few words, which he intended as an apologetic explanation, but 
before he had time to complete his labored vindication, she 
arose and said with decision — 

“ I did not come here to pass my time in foolish tears, nor 
you to try to stop them. What then has brought you hither ?” 

“ I must see the inmate of that tent.” 

“ You know what it contains ?” 

“ I am taught to believe I do ; and I bear a letter which I 
must deliver with my own hands. If the animal prove a qua- 
druped, Ishmael is a true man — if a biped, fledged or unfledged, 
I care not, he is false, and our compactum at an end !” 

Ellen made a sign for the Doctor to remain where he was, and 
to be silent. She then glided into the tent, where she conti- 
nued many minutes, that proved exceedingly weary and anxious 
to the expectant without ; but the instant she returned, she took 
him by the arm, and together they entered beneath the folds of 
the mysterious cloth. 


158 


THE PRAIRIE. 


CHAPTER XII. 

Pray God the Duke of York excuse himself! 

King Henry VI. 

The mustering of the borderers on the following morning 
was silent, sullen, and gloomy. The repast of that hour was 
wanting in the inharmonious accompaniment with which Esther 
ordinarily enlivened their meals ; for the effects of the powerful 
opiate the Doctor had administered still muddled her intellects. 
The young men brooded over the absence of their elder brother ; 
and the brows of Ishmael himself were knit, as he cast his 
scowling eyes from one to the other, like a man preparing to 
meet and to repel an expected assault on his authority. In the 
midst of this family distrust, Ellen and her midnight confederate, 
the naturalist, took their usual places among the children, with- 
out awakening suspicion or exciting comment. The only 
apparent fruits of the adventure in which they had been engaged, 
were occasional upliftings of the eyes, on the part of the Doctor, 
which were mistaken by the observers for some of his scientific 
contemplations of the heavens, but which, in reality, were no 
other than furtive glances at the fluttering walls of the proscribed 
tent. 

At length the squatter, who had waited in vain for some more 
decided manifestation of the expected rising among his sons, 
resolved to make a demonstration of his own intentions. 

“Asa shall account to me for this undutiful conduct,” he 
observed. “ Here has the livelong night gone by, and he out- 
lying on the prairie, when his hand and his rifle might both have 
been wanted in a brush with the Siouxes, for any right he had 
to know the contrary.” 

“ Spare your breath, good man,” retorted his wife ; “ be 


THE PRAIRIE. 


159 


saving of your breath ; for you may have to call long enough 
for the boy before he will answer !” 

“ It ar’ a fact that some men be so womanish as to let the 
young master the old! But you, old Esther, should know 
better than to think such will ever be the nature of things in 
the family of Ishmael Bush.” 

“ Ah ! you are a hectorer with the boys when need calls ! I 
know it well, Ishmael ; and one of your sons have you driven 
from you by your temper ; and that, too, at a time when he is 
most wanted.” 

“ Father,” said Abner, whose sluggish nature had gradually 
been stimulating itself to the exertion of taking so bold a stand, 
“ the boys and I have pretty generally concluded to go out on 
the search of Asa. We are disagreeable about his ’camping 
on the prairie, instead of coming in to his own bed, as we all 
know he would like to do.” 

“ Pshaw !” muttered Abiram ; “ the boy has killed a buck ; 
or perhaps a buffalo ; and he is sleeping by the carcase to keep 
off the wolves till day ; we shall soon see him, or hear him 
bawling for help to bring in his load.” 

“ ’ Tis little help that a son of mine will call for, to shoulder a 
buck or to quarter your wild-beef” returned the mother. “ And 
you, Abiram, to say so uncertain a thing ! you who said your- 
self that the red-skins had been prowling around this place, no 
later than yesterday ” 

“ I !” exclaimed her brother, hastily, as if anxious to retract an 
error ; “ I said it then, and I say it now ; and so you will find 
it to be. The Tetons are in our neighborhood, and happy will 
it prove for the boy if he is well shut of them.” 

“ It seems to me,” said Dr. Battius, speaking with the sort of 
deliberation and dignity one is apt to use after having thoroughly 
ripened his opinions by sufficient reflection, — “ it seems to me — 
a man but little skilled in the signs and tokens of Indian warfare, 
especially as practised in these remote plains, but one who, I 
may say without vanity, has some insight into the mysteries of 
na t ur e, — it seems, then, to me, thus humbly qualified, that when 


160 


THE PRAIRIE. 


doubts exist in a matter of moment, it would always be the 
wisest course to appease them .” 

u No more of your doctoring for me !” cried the grum 
Esther ; “ no more of your quiddities in a healthy family, say I < 
Here was I doing well, only a little out of sorts with over 
instructing the young, and you dos’d me with a drug that hangs 
about my tongue like a pound weight on a humming bird’s 
wing !” 

“ Is the medicine out ?” drily demanded Ishmael ; “ it must 
be a rare dose that gives a heavy feel to the tongue of old 
Eester !” 

“Friend,” continued the doctor, waving his hand for the 
angiy wife to maintain the peace, “ that it cannot perform all 
that is said of it the very charge of good Mrs. Bush is a suffi- 
cient proof. But to speak of the absent Asa. There is doubt 
as to his fate, and there is a proposition to solve it. Now, 
in the natural sciences truth is always a desideratum ; and I 
confess it would seem to be equally so in the present case of 
domestic uncertainty, which may be called a vacuum where, 
according to the laws of physic, there should exist some pretty 
palpable proofs of materiality.” 

“ Don’t mind him, don’t mind him,” cried Esther, observing 
that the rest of his auditors listened with an attention which 
might proceed equally from acquiescence in his proposal, or 
ignorance of its meaning. “ There is a drug in every word he 
utters.” 

“ Dr. Battius wishes to say,” Ellen modestly interposed, “ that 
as some of us think Asa is in danger, and some think otherwise, 
the whole family might pass an hour or two in looking for 
him.” 

“ Does he ?” interrupted the woman ; “ then Dr. Battius has 
more sense in him than I believed ! She is right, Ishmael ; 
and what she says, shall be done. I will shoulder a rifle 
myself; and woe betide the red-skin that crosses my path ! 1 

have pulled a igger before to-day ; ay, and heard an Indian 
yell, too, to my sorrow.” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


161 


The spirit of Esther diffused itself, like the stimulus which 
attends a war-cry, among her sons. They arose in a body, and 
declared their determination to second so bold a resolution. 
Ishmael prudently yielded to an impulse he could not resist, 
and in a few minutes the woman appeared, shouldering her 
arms, prepared to lead forth, in person, such of her descendants 
as chose to follow. 

“ Let them stay with the children that please,” she said, 
“ and them follow me, who are not chicken-hearted !” 

“Abiram, it will not do to leave the huts without some 
guard,” Ishmael whispered, glancing his eye upwards. 

The man whom he addressed started, and betrayed extraor- 
dinary eagerness in his reply. 

“ I will tarry and watch the camp.” 

A dozen voices were instantly raised in objection to this 
proposal. He was wanted to point out the places where the 
hostile tracks had been seen, and his termagant sister openly 
scouted at the idea, as unworthy of his manhood. The 
reluctant Abiram was compelled to yield, and Ishmael made a 
new disposition for the defence of the place; which was 
admitted, by every one, to be all-important to their security and 
comfort. 

He offered the post of commandant to Dr. Battius, who, 
however, peremptorily and somewhat haughtily, declined the 
doubtful honor ; exchanging looks of intelligence with Ellen, as 
he did so. In this dilemma the squatter was obliged to consti- 
tute the girl herself castellan ; taking care, however, in deputing 
this important trust, to omit no words of caution and instruction. 
When this preliminary point was settled, the young men 
proceeded to arrange certain means of defence, and signals of 
alarm, that were adapted to the weakness and character of the 
garrison. Several masses of rock were drawn to the edge of 
the upper level, and so placed as to leave it at the discretion 
of the feeble Ellen and her associates, to cast them or not, as 
they might choose, on the heads of any invaders, who would, 
of necessity, be obliged to mount the eminence by the difficult 


162 


T HE PRAIRIE. 


and narrow passage already so often mentioned. In addition 
to this formidable obstruction, the barriers were strengthened 
and rendered nearly impassable. Smaller missiles, that might 
be hurled even by the hands of the younger children, but 
which would prove, from the elevation of the place, exceedingly 
dangerous, were provided in profusion. A pile of dried leaves 
and splinters was placed, as a beacon, on the upper rock, and 
then, even in the jealous judgment of the squatter, the post was 
deemed competent to maintain a creditable siege. 

The moment the rock was thought to be in a state of suffi- 
cient security, the party who composed what might be called 
the sortie, sallied forth on their anxious expedition. The 
advance was led by Esther in person, who, attired in a dress 
half masculine, and bearing a weapon like the rest, seemed no 
unfit leader for the group of wildly clad frontier-men, that 
followed in her rear. 

“ Now, Abiram !” cried the Amazon, in a voice that was 
cracked and harsh, for the simple reason of being used too often 
on a strained and unnatural key, “ now, Abiram, run with your 
nose low ; show yourself a hound of the true breed, and do 
some credit to your training. You it was that saw the prints 
of the Indian moccasin, and it behoves you to let others be as 
wise as yourself. Come ; come to the front, man ; and give us 
a bold lead.” 

The brother, who appeared at all times to stand in awe of 
his sister’s authority, complied ; though it was with a reluctance 
so evident, as to excite sneers even among the unobservant and 
indolent sons of the squatter. Ishmael, himself, moved among 
his tall children, like one who expected nothing from the search, 
and who was indifferent alike to its success or failure. In this 
manner the party proceeded until their distant fortress had sunk 
so low, as to present an object no larger nor more distinct than 
a hazy point, on the margin of the prairie. Hitherto their 
progress had been silent and somewhat rapid, for as swell after 
swell was mounted and passed, without varying, or discovering 
a living object to enliven the monotony of the view, even the 


THE PRAIRIE. 


1G3 


tongue of Esther was hushed to increasing anxiety. Here, 
however, Ishmael chose to pause, and casting the butt of his 
rifle from his shoulder to the ground, he observed — 

“ This is enough. Buffalo signs, and deer signs, are plenty ; 
but where are thy Indian footsteps, Abiram ?” 

Still further west,” returned the other, pointing in the 
direction he named. “ This was the spot where I struck the 
tracks of the buck ; it was after I took the deer that I fell upon 
the Teton trail.” 

“ And a bloody piece of work you made of it, man,” cried 
the squatter, pointing tauntingly to the soiled garments of his 
kinsman, and then directing the attention of the spectators to 
his own, by the way of a triumphant contrast. “ Here have I 
cut the throats of two lively does, and a scampering fawn, 
without spot or stain ; while you, blundering dog as you are, 
have made as much work for Eester and her girls, as though 
butchering was your regular calling. Come, boys ; it is 
enough. I am too old not to know the signs of the frontiers ; 
no Indian has been here since the last fall of water. Follow 
me ; and I will make a turn that shall give us at least the 
beef of a fallow cow for our trouble.” 

“ Follow me /” echoed Esther, stepping undauntedly forward. 
“ I am leader to-day, and I will be followed. Who so proper, 
let me know, as a mother, to head a search for her own lost child ?” 

Ishmael regarded his intractable mate with a smile of 
indulgent pity. Observing that she had already struck out a 
path for herself, different both from that of Abiram and the one 
he had seen fit to choose, and being unwilling to draw the cord 
of authority too tight, just at that moment, he submitted to her 
will. But Dr. Battius, who had hitherto been a silent and 
thoughtful attendant on the woman, now saw fit to raise his 
feeble voice in the way of remonstrance. 

« I agree with thy partner in life, worthy and gentle Mrs. 
Bush,” he said, “ in believing that some ignis fatuus of the 
imagination has deceived Abiram, in the signs or symptoms of 
which he has spoken.” 


164 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ Symptoms, yourself !” interrupted the termagant. “ This is 
no time for bookish words, nor is this a place to stop and 
swallow medicines. If you are a-leg-weary, say so, as a plain- 
speaking man should ; then seat yourself on the prairie, like a 
hound that is foot-sore, and take your natural rest.” 

“ I accord in the opinion,” the naturalist calmly replied, 
complying literally with the opinion of the deriding Esther, by 
taking his seat very coolly by the side of an indigenous shrub ; 
the examination of which he commenced on the instant, in 
order that science might not lose any of its just and important 
dues. “ I honor your excellent advice, Mistress Esther, as you 
may perceive. Go thou in quest of thy offspring, while I tarry 
here, in pursuit of that which is better ; viz. an insight into the 
arcana of Nature’s volume.” 

The woman answered with a hollow, unnatural, and scornful 
laugh ; and even her heavy sons, as they slowly passed the seat 
of the already abstracted naturalist, did not disdain to manifest 
their contempt in smiles. In a few minutes the train mounted 
the nearest eminence, and, as it turned the rounded acclivity, the 
Doctor was left to pursue his profitable investigations in entire 
solitude. 

Another half-hour passed, during which Esther continued to 
advance, on her seemingly fruitless search. Her pauses, however, 
were becoming frequent, and her looks wandering and uncertain, 
when footsteps were heard clattering through the bottom, and 
at the next instant a buck was seen to bound up the ascent, and 
to dart from before their eyes, in the direction of the naturalist. 
So sudden and unlooked for had been the passage of the animal, 
and so much had he been favored by the shape of the ground, 
that before any one of the foresters had time to bring his rifle to 
his shoulder, it was already beyond the range of a bullet. 

“ Look out for the wolf !” shouted Abner, shaking his head 
in vexation, at being a single moment too late. “ A wolf’s 
skin will be no bad gift in a winter’s night ; ay, yonder the 
hungry devil comes !” 

“ Hold !” cried Ishmael, knocking up the levelled weapon of 


THE PRAIRIE. 


165 


his too eager son. “’Tis not a wolf ; but a hound of thorough 
blood and bottom. Ha ! we have hunters nigh : there ar’ two 
of them !” 

He was still speaking, when the animals in question came 
leaping on the track of the deer, striving with noble ardor to 
outdo each other. One was an aged dog, whose strength 
seemed to be sustained purely by generous emulation, and the 
other a pup, that gambolled even while he pressed most warmly 
on the chase. They both ran, however, with clean and powerful 
leaps, carrying their noses high, like animals of the most keen 
and subtle scent. They had passed ; and in another minute 
they would have been running open-mouthed with the deer in 
view, had not the younger dog suddenly bounded from the 
course, and uttered a cry of surprise. His aged companion 
stopped also, and returned panting and exhausted to the place 
where the other was whirling around in swift, and apparently 
in mad evolutions, circling the spot in his own footsteps, and 
continuing his outcry, in a short snappish barking. But, when 
the elder hound had reached the spot, he seated himself, and 
lifting his nose high into the air, he raised a long, loud, and 
wailing howl. 

“ It must be a strong scent,” said Abner, who had been, with 
the rest of the family, an admiring observer of the movements 
of the dogs, “ that can break off two such creaturs’ so suddenly 
from their trail.” 

“ Murder them !” cried Abiram ; “ I’ll swear to the old hound ; 
’tis the dog of the trapper, whom we now know to be our mor- 
tal enemy.” 

Though the brother of Esther gave so hostile advice, he 
appeared in no way ready to put it in execution himself. The 
surprise which had taken possession of the whole party, exhi- 
bited itself in his own vacant, wondering stare, as strongly as in 
any of the admiring visages by whom he was surrounded. His 
denunciation, therefore, notwithstanding its dire import, was 
disregarded ; and the dogs were left to obey the impulses of 
their mysterious instinct, without let or hinderance. 


166 


THE PRAIRIE. 


It was long before any of the spectators broke the silence ; 
but the squatter at length so far recollected his authority, as tc 
take on himself the right to control the movements of his children. 

“ Come away, boys ; come away, and leave the hounds to 
sing their tunes for their own amusement,” Ishmael said, in his 
coldest manner. “ I scorn to take the life of a beast, because its 
master has pitched himself too nigh my clearing ; come away, 
boys, come away ; we have enough of our own work before us, 
without turning aside to do that of the whole neighborhood.” 

“ Come not away !” cried Esther, in tones that sounded like 
the admonitions of some sibyl. “ I say, come not away, my 
children. There is a meaning and a warning in this ; and as I 
am a woman and a mother, will I know the truth of it all !” 

So saying, the awakened wife brandished her weapon, with an 
air that was not without its wild and secret influence, and led 
the way towards the spot where the dogs still remained, filling 
the air with their long-drawn and piteous complaints. The 
whole party followed in her steps, some too indolent to oppose, 
others obedient to her will, and all more or less excited by the 
uncommon character of the scene. 

“ Tell me, you Abner — Abiram — Ishmael !” the woman cried, 
standing over a spot where the earth was trampled and beaten, 
and plainly sprinkled with blood ; “ tell me, you who ar’ 
hunters ! what sort of animal has here met his death ? — Speak ! 
Ye ar’ men, and used to the signs of the plains ; is it the blood 
of wolf or panther ?” 

“ A buffalo — and a noble and powerful creatur’ has it been !” 
returned the squatter, who looked down calmly on the fatal 
signs which so strangely affected his wife. “ Here are the marks 
of the spot where he has struck his hoofs into the earth, in the 
death-struggle ; and yonder he has plunged and torn the ground 
with his horns. Ay, a buffalo bull of wonderful strength and 
courage has he been !” 

“ And who has slain him ?” continued Esther ; “ man ! 

where are the offals ? — Wolves ! — They devour not the hide ! 
Tell me, ye men and hunters, is this the blood of a beast ?” 


T 11 E PRAIRIE. 


167 


il The creatur’ has plunged over the hillock,” said Abner, 
who had proceeded a short distance beyond the rest of the 
party. “ Ah ! there you will find it, in yon swale of alders. 
Look ! a thousand carrion birds ar’ hovering above the carcase.” 

“ The animal has still life in him,” returned the squatter, “ or 
the buzzards would settle upon their prey ! By the action of 
the dogs it must be something ravenous ; I reckon it is the 
white bear from the upper falls. They are said to cling despe- 
rately to life !” 

“ Let us go back,” said Abiram ; “ there may be danger, and 
there can be no good in attacking a ravenous beast. Remem- 
ber, Ishmael, ’twill be a risky job, and one of small profit !” 

The young men smiled at this new proof of the well known 
pusillanimity of their uncle. The oldest even proceeded so far 
as to express his contempt, by bluntly saying — 

“ It will do to cage with the other animal we carry ; then we 
may go back double-handed into the settlements, and set up for 
showmen, around the court-houses and jails of Kentucky.” 

The threatening frown which gathered on the brow of his 
father admonished the young man to forbear. Exchanging 
looks that were half rebellious with his brethren, he saw fit to 
be silent. But instead of observing the caution recommended 
by Abiram, they proceeded in a body, until they again came to 
a halt within a few yards of the matted cover of the thicket. 

The scene had now, indeed, become wild and striking enough 
to have produced a powerful effect on minds better prepared, 
than those of the unnurtured family of the squatter, to resist the 
impressions of so exciting a spectacle. The heavens were, as 
usual at the season, covered with dark, driving clouds, beneath 
which interminable flocks of aquatic birds were again on the 
wing, holding their toilsome and heavy way towards the 
distant waters of the south. The wind had risen, and was once 
more sweeping over the prairie in gusts, which it was often vain 
to oppose ; and then again the blasts would seem to mount 
into the upper air, as if to sport with the drifting vapor, whirl- 
ing and rolling vast masses of the dusky and ragged volumes 


168 


THE PRAIRIE. 


over each other, in a terrific and yet grand disorder. Above 
the little brake, the flocks of birds still held their flight, circling 
with heavy wings about the spot, struggling at times against 
the torrent of wind, and then favored by their position and 
height, making bold swoops upon the thicket, away from which, 
however, they never failed to sail, screaming in terror, as if 
apprised, either by sight or instinct, that the hour of their 
voracious dominion had not yet fully arrived. 

Ishmael stood for many minutes, with his wife and children 
clustered together, in an amazement with which awe wgsr 
singular^ mingled, gazing in death-like stillness on the sight. 
The voice of Esther at length broke the oharm, and reminded 
the spectators of the necessity of resolving their doubts in some 
manner more worthy of their manhood, than by dull and 
inactive observation. 

“ Call in the dogs !” she said ; “ call in the hounds, and put 
them into the thicket ; there ar’ men enough of ye, if ye have 
not lost the spirit with which I know ye were born, to tame the 
tempers of all the bears west of the big river. Call in the dogs, 
I say, you Enoch! Abner! Gabriel! has wonder made ye 
deaf?” 

One of the young men complied ; and having succeeded in 
detaching the hounds from the place, around which, until then, 
they had not ceased to hover, he led them down to the margin 
of the thicket. 

“ Put them in, boy ; put them in,” continued the woman ; 
u and you, Ishmael and Abiram, if anything wicked or hurtful 
comes forth, show them the use of your rifles, like frontier-men. 
If ye ar’ wanting in spirit, before the eyes of my children will I 
put ye both to shame !” 

The youths who, until now, had detained the hounds, let 
slip the thongs of skin by which they had been held, and urged 
them to the attack by their voices. But it would seem that 
the elder dog was restrained by some extraordinary sensation, or 
that he was much too experienced to attempt the rash adventure 
After proceeding a few yards to the very verge of the brake, he 


THE TRAIRIE. 


169 


made a sudden pause, and stood trembling in all his aged limbs, 
apparently as unable to recede as to advance. The .encouraging 
calls of the young men were disregarded, or only answered by 
a low and plaintive whining. For a minute the pup also was 
similarly affected ; but less sage, or more easily excited, he was 
induced at length to leap forward, and finally to dash into the 
cover. An alarmed and startling bowl was heard, and, at the 
next minute, he broke out of the thicket, and commenced 
circling the spot, in the same wild and unsteady manner as 
before. 

“Have I a man among my children?” demanded Esther. 
“ Give me a truer piece than a childish shot-gun, and I will 
show ye what the courage of a frontier-woman can do I” 

“ Stay, mother,” exclaimed Abner and Enoch ; “ if you will 
see the creatur’ let us drive it into view.” 

This was quite as much as the youths were accustomed to 
utter, even on more important occasions ; but having given a 
pledge of their intentions, they were far from being backward in 
redeeming it. Preparing their arms with the utmost care, they 
advanced with steadiness to the brake. Nerves less often tried 
than those of the young borderers might have shrunk before the 
dangers of so uncertain an undertaking. As they proceeded, 
the howls of the dogs became more shrill and plaintive. The 
vultures and buzzards settled so low as to flap the bushes with 
their heavy wings, and the wind came hoarsely sweeping along 
the naked prairie, as if the spirits of the air had also descended 
to witness' the approaching development. 

There was a breathless moment, when the blood of the 
undaunted Esther flowed backwards to her heart, as she saw her 
sons push aside the matted branches of the thicket and bury 
themselves in its labyrinth. A deep and solemn pause suc- 
ceeded. Then arose two loud and piercing cries, in quick suc- 
cession, which were followed by a quiet, still more awful and 
appalling. 

“ Come back, come back, my children !” cried the woman, the 
feelings of a mother getting the ascendency. 

8 


m 


THE PRAIRIE. 


But her voice was hushed, and every faculty seemed frozen 
with horror, as at that instant the bushes once more parted, and 
the two adventurers re-appeared, pale, and nearly insensible 
themselves, and laid at her feet the stiff and motionless body of 
the lost Asa, with the marks of a violent death but too plainly 
stamped on every pallid lineament. 

The dogs uttered a long and closing howl, and then breaking 
off together, they disappeared on the forsaken trail of the deer. 
The flight of birds wheeled upwards into the heavens, filling the 
air with their complaints at having been robbed of a victim 
which, frightful and disgusting as it was, still bore too much of 
the impression of humanity to become the prey of their obscene 
appetites. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


171 


CHAPTER XIII. 

“ A pickaxe, and a spade, a spade, 

For,— and a shrouding sheet: 

O, a pit of clay for to be made 
For such a guest is meet.” 

Song in Hamlet. 

u Stand back ! stand off, the whole of ye !” said Esther 
hoarsely to the crowd, which pressed too closely on the corpse ; 
“ I am his mother, and my right is better than that of ye all ! 
Who has done this ? Tell me, Ishmael, Abiram, Abner ! open 
your mouths and your hearts, and let God’s truth and no other 
issue from them. Who has done this bloody deed ?” 

Her husband made no reply, but stood, leaning on his rifle, 
looking sadly, but with an unaltered eye, at the mangled 
remains of his son. Not so the mother ; she threw herself on 
the earth, and receiving the cold and ghastly head into her lap, 
she sat contemplating those muscular features, on which the 
death-agony was still horridly impressed, in a silence far more 
expressive than any language of lamentation could have proved. 

The voice of the woman was frozen in grief. In vain Ishmael 
attempted a few words of rude consolation ; she neither listened 
nor answered. Her sons gathered about her in a circle, and 
expressed after their uncouth manner, their sympathy in her 
sorrow, as well as their sense of their own loss ; but she motioned 
them away, impatiently, with her hand. At times her fingers 
played in the matted hair of the dead, and at others they lightly 
attempted to smoothe the painfully expressive muscles of its 
ghastly visage, as the hand of the mother is seen lingering fondly 
about the features of her sleeping child. Then starting from 
their revolting office, her hands would flutter around her, and 
seem to seek some fruitless remedy against the violent blow 


172 


THE PRAIRIE. 


which had thus suddenly destroyed the child in whom she had 
not only placed her greatest hopes, but so much of her maternal 
pride. While engaged in the latter incomprehensible manner, 
the lethargic Abner turned aside, and swallowing the unwonted 
emotions which were rising in his own throat, he observed — 

“ Mother means that we should look for the signs, that we 
may know in what manner Asa has come by his end.” 

“ We owe it to the accursed Siouxes !” answered Ishmael ; 
“ twice have they put me deeply in their debt ! The third time 
the score shall be cleared !” 

But, not content with this plausible explanation, and perhaps 
secretly glad to avert their eyes from a spectacle which awakened 
so extraordinary and unusual sensations in their sluggish bosoms, 
the sons of the squatter turned away in a body from their 
mother and the corpse, and proceeded to make the inquiries 
which they fancied the former had so repeatedly demanded. 
Ishmael made no objections ; but, though he accompanied his 
children while they proceeded in the investigation, it was more 
with the appearance of complying with their wishes, at a time 
when resistance might not be seemly, than with any visible 
interest in the result. As the borderers, notwithstanding their 
usual dulness, were well instructed in most things connected with 
their habits of life, an inquiry, the success of which depended 
so much on signs and evidences that bore so strong a resem- 
blance to a forest trail, was likely to be conducted with skill and 
acuteness. Accordingly, they proceeded to the melancholy 
task with great readiness and intelligence. 

Abner and Enoch agreed in their accounts as to the position 
in which they had found the body. It was seated nearly upright, 
the back supported by a mass of matted brush, and one hand 
still grasping a broken twig of the alders. It was most probably 
owing to the former circumstance that the body had escaped the 
rapacity of the carrion birds, which had been seen hovering above 
the thicket, and the latter proved that life had not yet entirely 
abandoned the hapless victim when he entered the brake. The 
opinion now became general, that the youth had received his 


THE PRAIRIE. 


173 


death-wound in the open prairie, and had dragged his enfeebled 
form into the cover of the thicket for the purpose of concealment. 
A trail through the bushes confirmed this opinion. It also 
appeared, on examination, that a desperate struggle had taken 
place on the very margin of the thicket. This was sufficiently 
apparent by the trodden branches, the deep impressions on the 
moist ground, and the lavish How of blood. 

“ He has been shot in the open ground and come here for a 
cover,” said Abiram ; “ these marks would clearly prove it. 
The boy has been set upon by the savages in a body, and has 
fou’t like a hero as he was, until they have mastered his strength, 
and then drawn him to the bushes.” 

To this probable opinion there was now but one dissenting 
voice, that of the slow-minded Ishmael, who demanded that the 
corpse itself should be examined in order to obtain a more 
accurate knowledge of its injuries. On examination, it appeared 
that a rifle bullet had passed directly through the body of the 
deceased, entering beneath one of his brawny shoulders, and 
making its exit by the breast. It required some knowledge in 
gun-shot wounds to decide this delicate point, but the experience 
of the borderers was quite equal to the scrutiny ; and a smile 
of wild, and certainly of singular satisfaction, passed among the 
sons of Ishmael, when Abner confidently announced that the 
enemies of Asa had assailed him in the rear. 

“It must be so,” said the gloomy but attentive squatter. 
“ He was of too good a stock, and too well trained, knowingly 
to turn the weak side to man or beast ! Remember, boys, that 
while the front of manhood is to your enemy, let him be who 
or what ho may, you ar’ safe from cowardly surprise. — Why, 
Eester, woman ! you ar’ getting beside yourself with picking at 
the hair and the garments of the child ! Little good can you 
do him now, old girl ” 

“ See !” interrupted Enoch, extricating from the fragments of 
cloth the morsel. of lead which had prostrated the strength of 
one so powerful ; “ here is the very bullet !” 

Ishmael took it in his hand and eyed it long and closely. 


174 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ There’s no mistake,” at length he muttered through his 
compressed teeth. “ It is from the pouch of that accursed 
trapper. Like many of the hunters, he has a mark in his 
mould, in order to know the work his rifle performs ; and here 
you see it plainly — six little holes laid crossways.” 

“ I’ll swear to it,” cried Abiram, triumphantly. “ He show’d 
me his private mark, himself, and boasted of the number of deer 
he had laid upon the prairies with these very bullets. Now, 
Ishmael, will you believe me when I tell you the old knave is a 
spy of the red-skins 

The lead passed from the hand of one to that of another ; and 
unfortunately for the reputation of the old man, several among 
them remembered also to have seen the aforesaid private bullet- 
marks, during the curious examination which all had made of 
his accoutrements. In addition to this wound, however, were 
many others of a less dangerous nature, all of which were 
deemed to confirm the supposed guilt of the trapper. 

The traces of many different struggles were to be seen between 
the spot where the first blood was spilt and the thicket to which 
it was now generally believed Asa had retreated as a place of 
refuge. These were interpreted into so many proofs of the 
weakness of the murderer, who would have sooner despatched 
his victim, had not even the dying strength of the youth ren- 
dered him formidable to the infirmities of one so old. The 
danger of drawing some others of the hunters to the spot, by 
repeated firing, was deemed a sufficient reason for not again 
resorting to the rifle after it had performed the important duty 
of disabling the victim. The weapon of the dead man was not 
to be found, and had doubtless, together with many other less 
valuable and lighter articles that he was accustomed to carry 
about his person, become a prize to* his destroyer. 

But what, in addition to the tell-tale bullet, appeared to fix 
the ruthless deed with peculiar certainty on the trapper, was the 
accumulated evidence furnished by the trail ; which proved, 
notwithstanding his deadly hurt, that the wounded man had 
still been able to make a long and desperate resistance to the 


THE PRAIRIE. 


175 


subsequent efforts of liis murderer. Iskmael seemed to press 
this proof with a singular mixture of sorrow and pride : sorrow 
at the loss of a son whom, in their moments of amity, he highly 
valued ; and pride at the courage and power he had manifested 
to his last and weakest breath. 

“ He died as a son of mine should die,” said the squatter, 
gleaning a hollow consolation from so unnatural an exultation • 
“ a, dread to his enemy to the last, and without help from the 
law ! Come, children ; we have the grave to make, and then to 
hunt his murderer.” 

The sons of the squatter set about their melancholy office in 
silence and in sadness. An excavation was made in the hard 
earth at a great expense of toil and time, and the body was 
wrapped in such spare vestments as could be collected among 
the laborers. When these arrangements were completed, 
Ishmael approached the 'seemingly unconscious Esther, and 
announced his intention to inter the dead. She heard him, and 
quietly relinquished her grasp of the corpse, rising in silence to 
follow it to its narrow resting-place. Here she seated herself 
again at the head of the grave, watching each movement 
of the youths with eager and jealous eyes. When a sufficiency 
of earth was laid upon the senseless clay of Asa to protect 
it from injury, Enoch and Abner entered the cavity, and 
trode it into a solid mass by the weight of their huge frames, 
w 7 ith an appearance of a strange, not to say savage, mixture of 
care and indifference. This well known precaution was adopted 
to prevent the speedy exhumation of the body by some of the 
Carnivorous beasts of the prairie, whose instinct was sure to guide 
them to the spot. Even the rapacious birds appeared to com- 
prehend the nature of the ceremony, for, mysteriously apprised 
that the miserable victim was now about to be abandoned by 
the human race, they once more began to make their airy circuits 
above the place, screaming as if to frighten the kinsmen from 
their labor of caution and love. 

Ishmael stood, with folded arms, steadily watching the man- 
ner in which this necessary duty was performed, and when the 


176 


THE PRAIRIE. 


whole was completed, he lifted his cap to his sons, to thank them 
for their services, with a dignity that would have become one 
much better nurtured. Throughout the whole of a ceremony 
which is ever solemn and admonitory, the squatter had main- 
tained a grave and serious deportment. His vast features were 
visibly stamped with an expression of deep concern ; but at no 
time did they falter, until he turned his back, as he believed for 
ever, on the grave of his first born. Nature was then stirring 
powerfully within him, and the muscles of his stern visage 
began to work perceptibly. His children fastened their eyes 
on his, as if to seek a direction to the strange emotions which 
were moving their own heavy natures, when the struggle in the 
bosom of the squatter suddenly ceased, and, taking his wife by 
the arm, he raised her to her feet as if she had been an infant, 
saying, in a voice that was perfectly steady, though a nice 
observer would have discovered that it was kinder than usual — 

“ Eester, we have now done all that man and woman can do. 
We raised the boy, and made him such as few others were like, 
on the frontiers of America ; and we have given him a grave. 
Let us go our way.” 

The woman turned her eyes slowly from the fresh earth, and 
laying her hands on the shoulders of her husband, stood, looking 
him anxiously in the eyes. 

“Ishmael! Ishmael!” she said, “you parted from the boy in 
your wrath !” 

“ May the Lord pardon his sins freely as I have forgiven his 
worst misdeeds !” calmly returned the squatter ; “ woman, go 
you back to the rock and read your Bible ; a chapter in that 
book always does you good. You can read, Eester ; which is a 
privilege I never did enjoy.” 

“ Yes, yes,” muttered the woman, yielding to his strength, 
and suffering herself to be led, though with strong reluctance, 
from the spot. “ I can read ; and how have I used the know- 
ledge ! But he, Ishmael, he has not the sin of wasted l’arning 
to answer for. We have spared him that , at least ! whether it 
be in mercy or in cruelty, I know not.” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


m 


Her husband made no reply, but continued steadily to lead 
her in the direction of their temporary abode. When they 
reached the summit of the swell of land, which they knew was 
the last spot from which the situation of the grave of Asa 
could be seen, they all turned, as by common concurrence, to 
take a farewell view of the place. The little mound itself was 
not visible ; but it was frightfully indicated by the flock of 
screaming birds which hovered above. In the opposite direction 
a low, blue hillock, in the skirts of the horizon, pointed out the 
place where Esther had left the rest of her young, and served as 
an attraction to draw her reluctant steps from the last abode of 
her eldest born. Nature quickened in the bosom of the mother 
at the sight ; and she finally yielded the rights of the dead to 
the more urgent claims of the living. 

The foregoing occurrences had struck a spark from the stern 
tempers of a set of beings so singularly moulded in the habits 
of their uncultivated lives, which served to keep alive among 
them the dying embers of family affection. United to their 
parents by ties no stronger than those which use had created, 
there had been great danger, as Ishmael had foreseen, that the 
overloaded hive would swarm, and leave him saddled with the 
difficulties of a young and helpless brood, unsupported by the 
exertions of those whom he had already brought to a state of 
maturity. The spirit of insubordination, which emanated from 
the unfortunate Asa, had spread among his juniors ; and the 
squatter had been made painfully to remember the time when, 
in the wantonness of his youth and vigor, he had, reversing the 
order of the brutes, cast off his own aged and failing parents, to 
enter into the world unshackled and free. But the danger had 
now abated, for a time at least ; and if his authority was not 
restored with all its former influence, it was admitted to exist, 
and to maintain its ascendency a little longer. 

It is true that his slow-minded sons, even while they 
submitted to the impressions of the recent event, had glimmer- 
ings of terrible distrust as to the manner in which their 
elder brother had met with his death. There were faint 

8 * 


178 


;THE PRAIRIE. 


and indistinct images in the minds of two or three of the oldest, 
which portrayed the father himself as ready to imitate the 
example of Abraham, without the justification of the sacred 
authority which commanded the holy man to attempt the 
revolting office. But then these images were so transient, and 
so much obscured in intellectual mists, as to leave no very strong 
impressions ; and the tendency of the whole transaction, as we 
have already said, was rather to strengthen than to weaken the 
authority of Ishmael. 

In this disposition of mind the party continued their route 
towards the place whence they had that morning issued on 
a search which had been crowned with so melancholy a 
success. 

The long and fruitless march which they had made under the 
direction of Abiram, the discovery of the body and its subse- 
quent interment, had so far consumed the day that by the time 
their steps were retraced across the broad tract of waste which 
lay between the grave of Asa and the rock, the sun had fallen 
far below his meridian altitude. The hill had gradually risen as 
they approached, like some tower emerging from the bosom of 
the sea, and when within a mile, the minuter objects that 
crowned its height came dimly into view. 

“ It will be a sad meeting for the girls !” said Ishmael, who, 
from time to time, did not cease to utter something which lie 
intended should be consolatory to the bruised spirit of his part- 
ner. “ Asa was much regarded by all the young, and seldom 
failed to bring in from his hunts something that they loved.” 

“ He did, he did,” murmured Esther ; “ the boy was the pride 
of the family. My other children are as nothing to him I” 

“ Say not so, good woman,” returned the father, glancing his 
eye a little proudly at the athletic train which followed at no 
great distance in the rear. “ Say not so, old Eester ; for few 
fathers and mothers have greater reason to be boastful than 
ourselves.” 

“ Thankful, thankful,” muttered the humbled woman ; “ ye 
mean thankful, Ishmael !” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


179 


“ Then thankful let it be, if you like the word better, my good 
girl, — but what has become of Nelly and the young ? The 
child has forgotten the charge I gave her, and has not only 
suffered the children to sleep, but I warrant you is dreaming of 
the fields of Tennessee at this very moment. The mind of your 
niece is mainly fixed on the settlements, I reckon.” 

“ Ay, she is not for us ; I said it, and thought it, when I took 
her, because death had stripped her of all other friends. Death 
is a sad worker in the bosom of families, Ishmael ! Asa had a 
kind feeling to the child, and they might have come one day into 
our places had things been so ordered.” 

“ Nay, she is not gifted for a frontier wife, if this is the man- 
ner she is to keep house while the husband is on the hunt. 
Abner, let off your rifle, that they may know we ar’ coming. I 
fear Nelly and the young ar’ asleep.” 

The young man complied with an alacrity that manifested 
how gladly he would see the rounded, active figure of Ellen 
enlivening the ragged summit of the rock. But the report was 
succeeded by neither signal nor answer of any sort For a 
moment the whole party stood in suspense, awaiting the result, 
and then a simultaneous impulse caused the whole to let off 
their pieces at the same instant, producing a noise which might 
not fail to reach the ears of all within so short a distance. 

u Ah ! there they come at last !” cried Abiram, who was 
usually among the first to seize on any circumstance which 
promised relief from disagreeable apprehensions. 

“ It is a petticoat fluttering on the line,” said Esther ; “ I put 
it there myself.” 

w You are right ; but now she comes ; the jade has been 
taking her comfort in the tent !” 

“ It is not so,” said Ishmael, whose usually inflexible features 
were beginning to manifest the uneasiness he felt. “ It is the 
tent itself blowing about loosely in the wind. They have 
loosened the bottom, like silly children as they ar’, and unless 
care is had, the whole will come down !” 

The words were scarcely uttered before a rushing blast of 


180 


THE PRAIRIE. 


wind swept by the spot where they stood, raising the dust 
in little eddies, in its progress ; and then, as if guided by a 
master hand, it quitted the earth, and mounted to the pre- 
cise spot on which all eyes were just then riveted. The 
loosened linen felt its influence and tottered ; but regained its 
poise, and for a moment it became tranquil. The cloud of 
leaves next played in circling revolutions around the place, and 
then descended with the velocity of a swooping hawk, and 
sailed away into the prairie in long straight lines, like a flight of 
swallows resting on their expanded wings. They were fol- 
lowed for some distance by the snow-white tent, which, however, 
soon fell behind the rock, leaving its highest peak as naked 
as when it lay in the entire solitude of the desert. 

“ The murderers have been here !” moaned Esther. “ My 
babes ! my babes !” 

For a moment even Ishmael faltered before the weight 
of so unexpected a blow. But shaking himself like an awakened 
lion, he sprang forward, and pushing aside the impediments of 
the barrier as if they had been feathers, he rushed up the 
ascent with an impetuosity which proved how formidable a 
sluggish nature may become when thoroughly aroused. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


181 


CHAPTER XIV. 

“ Whose party do the townsmen yet admit 1” 

Ki.vo John. 

In - order to preserve an even pace between the incidents 
of the tale, it becomes necessary to revert to such events as 
occurred during the ward of Ellen Wade. 

For the first few hours the cares of the honest and warm- 
hearted girl were confined to the simple offices of satisfying the 
often repeated demands which her younger associates made on 
her time and patience, under the pretences of hunger, thirst, 
and all the other ceaseless wants of captious and inconside- 
rate childhood. She had seized a moment from their importu- 
nities to steal into the tent, where she was administering to 
the comforts of one far more deserving of her tenderness, when 
an outcry among the children recalled her to the duties she had 
momentarily forgotten. 

“ See, Nelly, see !” exclaimed half a dozen eager voices ; 
“yonder ar’ men; and Phoebe says that they ar’ Sioux- 
Indians !” 

Ellen turned her eyes in the direction in which so many 
arms were already extended, and to her consternation beheld 
several men advancing manifestly and swiftly in a straight line 
towards the rock. She counted four, but was unable to make 
out anything concerning their characters, except that they were 
not any of those who of right were entitled to admission 
into the fortress. It was a fearful moment for Ellen. Looking 
around at the juvenile and frightened flock that pressed upon the 
skirts of her garments, she endeavored to recall to her con- 
fused faculties some one of the many tales of female heroism 
with which the history of the western frontier abounded. 
In one a stockade had been successfully defended by a single 


182 


THE PRAIRIE. 


man, supported by three or four women, for days, against 
the assaults of a hundred enemies. In another, the woman 
alone had been able to protect the children, and the less valua- 
ble effects of their absent husbands ; and a third was not want- 
ing, in which a solitary female had destroyed her sleeping cap- 
tors and given liberty not only to herself, but to a brood 
of helpless young. This was the case most nearly assimilated 
to the situation in which Ellen now found herself; and, 
with flushing cheeks and kindling eyes, the girl began to consi- 
der, and to prepare her slender means of defence. 

She posted the larger girls at the little levers that were to cast 
the rocks on the assailants ; the smaller were to be used more for 
show than any positive service they could perform; while 
like any other leader she reserved her own person as a superin- 
tendent and encourager of the whole. When these dispo- 
sitions were made she endeavored to await the issue with 
an air of composure that she intended should inspire her assist- 
ants with the confidence necessary to insure success. 

Although Ellen was vastly their superior in that spirit which 
emanates from moral qualities, she was by no means the equal 
of the two eldest daughters of Esther, in the important military 
property of insensibility to danger. Reared in the hardihood of 
a migrating life on the skirts of society, where they had become 
familiarized to the sights and dangers of the wilderness, 
these girls promised fairly to become, at some future day, 
no less distinguished than their mother for daring, and for that 
singular mixture of good and evil, which, in a wider sphere 
of action, would probably have enabled the wife of the squatter 
to enrol her name among the remarkable females of her time. 
Esther had already, on one occasion, made good the log 
tenement of Ishmael against an inroad of savages ; and on ano- 
ther, she had been left for dead by her enemies, after a defence 
that, with a more civilized foe, would have entitled her to 
the honors of a liberal capitulation. These facts, and sundry 
others of a similar nature, had often been recapitulated with 
suitable exultation in the presence of her daughters, and 


THE PRAIRIE. 


183 


tho bosoms of the young Amazons were now strangely fluctuat- 
ing between natural terror and the ambitious wish to do some- 
thing that might render them worthy of being the children 
of such a mother. It appeared that the opportunity for 
distinction of this wild character was no longer to be denied 
them. 

The party of strangers was already within a hundred rods of 
the rock. Either consulting their usual wary method of 
advancing, or admonished by the threatening attitudes of 
two figures, who had thrust forth the barrels of as many 
old muskets from behind the stone entrenchment, the new 
comers halted, under favor of an inequality in the ground, 
where a growth of grass thicker than common offered the 
advantage of concealment. From this spot they reconnoitred 
the fortress for several anxious, and to Ellen, interminable 
minutes. Then one advanced singly, and apparently more 
in the character of a herald than of an assailant. 

“ Phoebe, do you fire,” and “ no, Hetty, yew,” were begin- 
ning to be heard between the half-frightened and yet eager 
daughters of the squatter, when Ellen probably saved the 
advancing stranger from some imminent alarm, if from no 
greater danger, by exclaiming — 

“ Lay down the muskets ; it is Dr. Battius !” 

Her subordinates so far complied as to withdraw their hands 
from the locks, though the threatening barrels still maintained 
the portentous levels. The naturalist, who had advanced with 
sufficient deliberation to note the smallest hostile demonstration 
of the garrison, now raised a white handkerchief on the end of 
his fusee, and came within speaking distance of the fortress. 
Then assuming what he intended should be an imposing 
and dignified semblance of authority, he blustered forth in 
a voice that might have been heard at a much greater dis- 
tance — 

“ What, ho ! I summon ye all, in the name of the Con- 
federacy of the United Sovereign States of North America, 
to submit yourselves to the laws.” 


184 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ Doctor or no Doctor ; he is an enemy, Nelly ; hear 
him ! hear him ! he talks of the law.” 

“ Stop ! stay till I hear his answer !” said the nearly breath- 
less Ellen, pushing aside the dangerous weapons which were 
again pointed in the direction of the shrinking person of 
the herald. 

“I admonish and forewarn ye all,” continued the startled 
Doctor, “that I am a peaceful citizen of the before named 
Confederacy, or to speak with greater accuracy, Union, a sup- 
porter of the Social Compact, and a lover of good order and 
amity ;” then, perceiving that the danger was at least tem- 
porarily removed, he once more raised his voice to the hos- 
tile pitch, — “ I charge ye all, therefore, to submit to the 
laws.” 

“ I thought you were a friend,” Ellen replied ; “ and that you 
travelled with my uncle, in virtue of an agreement ” 

“ It is void ! I have been deceived in the very premises, and 
I hereby pronounce a certain compactum, entered into and con- 
cluded between Ishmael Bush, squatter, and Obed Battius, 
M.D., to be incontinently null and of non-effect. Nay, children, 
to be null is merely a negative property, and is fraught with no 
evil to your worthy parent; so lay aside the fire-arms, and 
listen to the admonitions of reason. I declare it vicious — null — 
abrogated. As for thee, Nelly, my feelings towards thee are 
not at all given to hostility ; therefore listen to that which I have 
to utter, nor turn away thine ears in the wantonness of 
security. Thou knowest the character of the man with whom 
thou dwellest, young woman, and thou also knowest the danger 
of being found in evil company. Abandon, then, the trifling 
advantages of thy situation, and yield the rock peaceably to the 
will of those who accompany me — a legion, young woman — I 
do assure you an invincible and powerful legion ! Render, 
therefore, the effects of this lawless and wicked squatter, — • 
nay, children, such disregard of human life is frightful in 
those who have so recently received the gift, in their own 
persons! Point those dangerous weapons aside, I entreat . 


THE PRAIRIE. 


185 


of you ; more for your own sakes than for mine. Hetty, hast 
thou forgotten who appeased thine anguish, when thy auricular 
nerves were tortured by the colds and damps of the naked 
earth ! and thou, Phoebe, ungrateful and forgetful Plicebe ! 
but for this very arm, which you would prostrate with an end- 
less paralysis, thy incisores would still be giving thee pain 
and sorrow ! Lay, then, aside thy weapons, and hearken to the 
advice of one who has always been thy friend. And now, 
young woman,” still keeping a jealous eye on the muskets 
which the girl had suffered to be diverted a little from their 
aim, — “and now, young woman, for the last, and therefore 
the most solemn asking : I demand of thee the surrender 
of this rock, without delay or resistance, in the joint names 

of power, of justice, and of the ” law he would have 

added ; but recollecting that this ominous word would again 
provoke the hostility of the squatter’s children, he succeeded in 
swallowing it in good season, and concluded with the less 
dangerous and more convertible term of “ reason.” 

This extraordinary summons failed, however, of producing 
the desired effect. It proved utterly unintelligible to his 
younger listeners, with the exception of the few offensive terms, 
already sufficiently distinguished ; and though Ellen better com- 
prehended the meaning of the herald, she appeared as little 
moved by his rhetoric as her companions. At those passages 
which he intended should be tender and affecting, the intelligent 
girl, though tortured by painful feelings, had even manifested a 
disposition to laugh, while to the threats she turned an utterly 
insensible ear. 

“ I know not the meaning of all you wish to say, Dr. Battius,” 
she quietly replied, when he had ended ; “ but I am sure if it 
would teach me to betray my trust, it is -what I ought not to 
hear. I caution you to attempt no violence, for let my wishes 
be what they may, you see I am surrounded by a force that 
can easily put me down, and you know, or ought to know, too 
well the temper of this family, to trifle in such a matter with 
any of its members, let them be of what sex or age they may.’ 1 


186 


THE PRAIRIE. 


M I am not entirely ignorant of human character,” returned 
the naturalist, prudently receding a little from the position 
which he had until now stoutly maintained at the very base of 
the hill. “ But here comes one who may know its secret wind- 
ings still better than I.” 

“ Ellen ! Ellen Wade,” cried Paul Hover, who had advanced 
to his elbow, without betraying any of that sensitiveness which 
had so manifestly discomposed the Doctor ; “ I didn’t expect to 
find an enemy in you !” 

“ Nor shall you, when you ask that which I can grant with- 
out treachery. You know that my uncle has trusted his family 
to my care, and shall I so far betray the trust as to let in his 
bitterest enemies to murder his children, perhaps, and to rob 
him of the little which the Indians have left ?” 

“Am I a murderer — is this old man — this officer of the 
States,” pointing to the trapper and his newly discovered friend, 
both of whom by this time stood at his side, “ is either of these 
likely to do the things you name ?” 

“ What is it then you ask of me ?” said Ellen, wringing her 
hands, in excessive doubt. 

“ The beast ! nothing more nor less than the squatter’s hid- 
den, ravenous, dangerous beast !” 

“Excellent young woman,” commenced the young stranger, 
who had so lately joined himself to the party on the prairie — 
but his mouth was immediately stopped by a significant sign 
from the trapper, who whispered in his ear — 

“ Let the lad be our spokesman. Natur’ will work in the 
bosom of the child, and we shall gain our object in good time.” 

“ The whole truth is out, Ellen,” Paul continued, “ and we 
have lined the squatter into his most secret misdoings.. We 
have come to right the wronged and to free the imprisoned ; 
now, if you are the girl of a true heart, as I have always 
believed, so far from throwing straws in our way, you will join 
in the general swarming, and leave old Ishmael and his hive to 
the bees of his own breed.” 

“ I have sworn a solemn oath ” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


187 


u A compactum which is entered into through ignorance, or 
in duresse, is null in the sight of all good moralists,” cried the 
Doctor. 

“ Hush, hush,” again the trapper whispered ; “ leave it all to 
natur’ and the lad !” 

“ I have sworn in the sight and by the name of Him who is 
the founder and ruler of all that is good, whether it be in 
morals or in religion,” Ellen continued, “ neither to reveal the 
contents of that tent nor to help its prisoner to escape. We 
are both solemnly, terribly sworn ; our lives perhaps have been 
the gift we received for the promises. It is true you are masters 
of the secret, but not through any means of ours ; nor do I 
know that I can justify myself for even being neutral, while 
you attempt to invade the dwelling of my uncle in this hostile 
manner.” 

“ I can prove beyond the power of refutation,” the naturalist 
eagerly exclaimed, “ by Paley, Berkeley, ay, even by the im- 
mortal Binkershoeck, that a compactum, concluded while one of 
the parties,- be it a state or be it an individual, is in du- 
rance ” 

“ You will ruffle the temper of the child with your abusive 
language,” said the cautious trapper, “ while the lad, if left to 
human feelings, will bring her down to the meekness of a fawn. 
Ah ! you are like myself, little knowing in the natur’ of hidden 
kindnesses !” 

“ Is this the only vow you have taken, Ellen ?” Paul con- 
tinued, in a tone which for the gay, light-hearted bee-hunter, 
sounded dolorous and reproachful. “ Have you sworn only to 
this ? are the words which the squatter says to be as honey in 
your mouth, and all other promises like so much useless comb?” 

The paleness which had taken possession of the usually 
cheerful countenance of Ellen, was hid in a bright glow that 
was plainly visible even at the distance at which she stood. She 
hesitated a moment, as if struggling to repress something very 
like resentment, before she answered with all her native spirit — 

“ I know not what right any one has to question me about 


189 


THE PRAIRIE. 


oaths and promises, which can only concern her who has made 
them, if, indeed, any of the sort you mention have ever been 
made at all. I shall hold no further discourse with one who 
thinks so much of himself, and takes advice merely of his own 
feelings.” 

“ Now, old trapper, do you hear that !” said the unsophisti- 
cated bee-hunter, turning abruptly to his aged friend. “ The 
meanest insect that skims the heavens, when it has got its load, 
flies straight and honestly to its nest or hive, according to its 
kind ; but the ways of a woman’s mind are as knotty as a 
gnarled oak, and more crooked than the windings of the Missis- 
sippi !” 

“ Nay, nay, child,” said the trapper, good-naturedly interfer- 
ing in behalf of the offending Paul, “you are to consider that 
youth is hasty, and not overgiven to thought. But then a pro- 
mise is a promise, and not to be thrown aside and forgotten, 
like the hoofs and horns of a buffalo.” 

“ I thank you for reminding me of my oath,” said the still 
resentful Ellen, biting her pretty nether lip with vexation ; “I 
might else have proved forgetful !” 

“ Ah ! female natur’ is awakened in her,” said the old man, 
shaking his head in a manner to show how much he was disap- 
pointed in the result ; “ but it manifests itself against the true 
spirit !” 

“ Ellen !” cried the young stranger, who until now had been 
an attentive listener to the parley, “ since Ellen is the name by 
which you are known ” 

“ They often add it to another. I am sometimes called by 
the name of my father.” 

“Call her Nelly Wade at once,” muttered Paul; “it is her 
rightful name, and I care not if she keeps it for ever !” 

“ Wade, I should have added,” continued the youth. “You 
will acknowledge that, though bound by no oath myself, I at 
least have known how to respect those of others. You are a 
witness yourself that I have forborne to utter a single call, while 
I am certain it could reach those ears it would gladden so 


THE P It A I R I E . 


189 


much. Permit me then to ascend the rock, singly ; I promise 
a perfect indemnity to your kinsman, against any injury his 
effects may sustain.” 

Ellen seemed to hesitate, but catching a glimpse of Paul, who 
stood leaning proudly on his rifle, whistling, with an appearance 
of the utmost indifference, the air of a boating song, she recovered 
her recollection in time to answer, — 

“ I have been left the captain of the rock, while my uncle and 
his sons hunt, and captain will I remain till he returns to receive 
back the charge.” 

“ This js wasting moments that will not soon return, and 
neglecting an opportunity that may never occur again,” the 
young soldier gravely remarked. “ The sun is beginning to fall 
already, and many minutes cannot elapse before the squatter 
and his savage brood will be returning to their huts.” 

Doctor Battius cast a glance behind him, and took up the 
discourse, by saying — 

“Perfection is always found in maturity, whether it be in the 
animal or in the intellectual world. Reflection is the mother 
of wisdom, and wisdom the parent of success. I propose that 
we retire to a discreet distance from this impregnable position, 
and there hold a convocation, or council, to deliberate on what 
manner we may sit dowm regularly "before the place ; or, 
perhaps, by postponing the siege to another season, gain the aid 
of auxiliaries from the inhabited countries, and thus secure the 
dignity of the laws from any danger of a repulse.” 

“ A storm would be better,” the soldier smilingly answered, 
measuring the height and scanning all its difficulties with a 
deliberate eye ; “ ’twould be but a broken arm or a bruised 
head at the worst.” 

“ Then have at it !” shouted the impetuous bee-hunter, 
making a spring that at once put him out of danger from shot, 
by carrying him beneath the projecting ledge on which the 
garrison was posted ; “ now do your worst, young devils of a 
wicked breed ; you have but a moment to work your 
mischief! ” 


190 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ Paul ! rash Paul !” shrieked Ellen ; “ another step and the 
rocks will crush you ! they hang but by a thread, and these 
girls are ready and willing to let them fall !” 

“ Then drive the accursed swarm from the hive ; for scale the 
rock I will, though I find it covered with hornets.” 

“ Let her if she dare !” tauntingly cried the eldest of the 
girls, brandishing a musket with a mien and resolution that 
would have done credit to her Amazonian dam. “ I know 
you, Nelly Wade ; you are with the lawyers in your heart, 
and if you come a foot nigher, you shall have frontier punish- 
ment. Put in another pry, girls ; in with it ! I should like to 
see the man of them all that dare come up into the camp of 
Ishmael Bush, without asking leave of his children !” 

“ Stir not, Paul ; for your life keep beneath the rock !” 

Ellen was interrupted by the same bright vision, which on 
the preceding day had stayed another scarcely less portentous 
tumult, by exhibiting itself on the same giddy height where it 
was now seen. 

“ In the name of Him, who commandeth all, I implore you 
to pause — both you, who so madly incur the risk, and you, 
who so rashly offer to take that which you never can return !” 
said a voice, in a slightly foreign accent, that instantly drew all 
eyes upwards. 

“ Inez !” cried the officer, “ do I again see you ! mine shall 
you now be,, though a million devils were posted on this rock. 
Push up, brave woodsman, and give room for another !” 

The sudden appearance of the figure from the tent had 
created a momentary stupor among the defenders of the rock, 
which might, with suitable forbearance, have been happily 
improved ; but startled by the voice of Middleton, the surprised 
Phoebe discharged her musket at the female, scarcely knowing 
whether she aimed at the life of a mortal or at some being 
which belonged to another world. Ellen uttered a cry of 
horror, and then sprang after her alarmed or wounded friend, 
she knew not which, into the tent. 

During this moment of dangerous by-play, the sounds of a 


THE PRAIRIE. 


191 


serious attack were very distinctly audible beneath. Paul 
had profited by the commotion over his head to chahge his 
place so far, as to make room for Middleton. The latter was 
followed by the naturalist, who, in a state of mental aberration, 
produced by the report of the musket, had instinctively rushed 
towards the rocks for cover. The trapper remained where he 
was last seen, an unmoved but close observer of the several pro- 
ceedings. Though averse to enter into actual hostilities, the old 
man was, however, far from being useless. Favored by his 
position, he was enabled to apprise his friends of the movements 
of those who plotted their destruction above, and to advise and 
control their advance accordingly. 

In the meantime, the children of Esther were true to the 
spirit they had inherited from their redoubtable mother. The 
instant they found themselves delivered from the presence of 
Ellen and her unknown companion, they bestowed an undivided 
attention on their more masculine and certainly more dangerous 
assailants, who by this time had made a complete lodgment 
among the crags of the citadel. The repeated summons to sur- 
render, which Paul uttered in a voice that he intended should 
strike terror into their young bosoms, were as little heeded as 
were the calls of the trapper to abandon a resistance which 
might prove fatal to some among them, without offering the 
smallest probability of eventual success. Encouraging each 
other to persevere, they poised the fragments of rocks, prepared 
the lighter missiles for immediate service, and thrust for- 
ward the barrels of the muskets with a business-like air, and a 
coolness, that would have done credit to men practised in 
warfare. 

“ Keep under the ledge,” said the trapper, pointing out to 
Paul the manner in which he should proceed ; “ keep in your 
foot more, lad — ah ! you see the warning was not amiss ! had 
the stone struck it, the bees would have had the prairies to 
themselves. Now, namesake of my friend; Uncas, in name 
and spirit ! now, if you have the activity of Le Cerf Agile, you 
may make a fair leap to the right, and gain twenty feet without 


192 


THE PllAIRIE. 


danger. Beware the bush — beware # tlie busfi ! ’twill prove a 
treacherous hold ! Ah ! he has done it; safely and bravely has 
he done it ! Your turn comes next, friend, that follows the 
fruits of natur’. Push you to the left, and divide the attention 
of the children. Nay, girls, fire, — my old ears are used to the 
whistling of lead ; and little reason have I to prove a doe-heart, 
with fourscore years on my back.” He shook his head with a 
melancholy smile, but without flinching in a muscle, as the 
bullet, which the exasperated Hetty fired, passed innocently at 
no great distance from the spot where he stood. “ It is safer 
keeping in your track than dodging when a weak finger pulls 
the trigger,” he continued ; “ but it is a solemn sight to witness 
how much human natur’ is inclined to evil, in one so young ? 
Well done, my man of beasts and plants ! Another such leap, 
and you may laugh at all the squatter’s bars and walls. The 
Doctor has got his temper up ! I see it in. his eye, and some- 
thing good will come of him ! Keep closer, man — keep closer.” 

The trapper, though he was not deceived as to the state of 
Dr. Battius’ mind, was, however, greatly in error as to the 
exciting cause. While imitating the movements of his compa- 
nions, and toiling his way upwards with the utmost caution, and 
not without great inward tribulation, the eye of the naturalist 
had caught a glimpse of an unknown plant, a few yards above 
his head, and in a situation more than commonly exposed to the 
missiles which the girls were unceasingly hurling in the direc- 
tion of the assailants. Forgetting, in an instant, everything but 
the glory of being the first to give this jewel to the catalogues 
of science, he sprang upwards at the prize with the avidity with 
which the sparrow darts upon the butterfly. The rocks, which 
instantly came thundering down, announced that he was seen ; 
and for a moment, while his form was concealed in the cloud 
of dust and fragments which followed the furious descent, the 
trapper gave him up for lost ; but the next instant he was seen 
safely seated in a cavity, formed by some of the projecting 
stones which had yielded to the shock, holding triumphantly in 
his hand the captured stem, which he was already devouring 


THE PRAIRIE. 


193 


with delighted, and certainly not unskilful, eyes. Paul profited 
by the opportunity. Turning his course, with the quickness of 
thought, he sprang to the post which Obed thus securely occu- 
pied, and unceremoniously making a footstool of his shoulder, as 
the latter stooped over his treasure, he bounded through the 
breach left by the fallen rock, and gained the level. He was 
followed by Middleton, who joined him in seizing and disarming 
the girls. In this manner a bloodless and complete victory was 
obtained over that citadel which Ishmael had vainly flattered 
himself might prove impregnable. 


104 


THE PRAIRIE. 


CHAPTER XV. 


So smile the heavens upon this holy act, 

That after-hours with sorrow chide us not 1” 

Shakspearb. 


It is proper that the course of the narrative should be stayed, ' 
while we revert to those causes which have brought in their 
train of consequences, the singular contest just related. The 
interruption must necessarily be as brief as we hope it may 
prove satisfactory to that class of readers, who require that no 
gap should be left by those who assume the office of historians, 
for their own fertile imaginations to fill. 

Among the troops sent by the government of the United 
States, to take possession of its newly-acquired territory in the 
west, was a detachment led by the young, soldier who has 
become so busy an actor in the scenes of our legend. The 
mild and indolent descendants of the ancient colonists received 
their new compatriots without distrust, well knowing that the 
transfer raised them from the condition of subjects to the more 
enviable distinction of citizens in a government of laws. The 
new rulers exercised their functions with discretion, and wielded 
their delegated authority without offence. In such a novel 
intermixture, however, of men born and nurtured in freedom, 
aud the compliant minions of absolute power, the catholic and 
the protestant, the active and the indolent, some little time was 
necessary to blend the discrepant elements of society. In 
attaining so desirable an end, woman was made to perform her 
accustomed and grateful office. The barriers of prejudice and 
religion were broken through by the irresistible power of the 
master-passion ; and family unions, ere long, began to cement 


THE PRAIRIE. 


195 


the political tie which had made a forced conjunction between 
people so opposite in their habits, their educations, and their 
opinions. 

Middleton was among the first of the new possessors of the 
soil, who became captive to the charms of a Louisianian lady. 
In the immediate vicinity of the post he had been directed to 
occupy, dwelt the chief of one of those ancient colonial families, 
which had been content to slumber for ages amid the ease, 
indolence, and wealth of the Spanish provinces. He was an 
officer of the crown, and had been induced to remove from the 
Floridas, among the French of the adjoining province, by a rich 
succession of which he had become the inheritor. The name 
of Don Augustin de Certavallos was scarcely known beyond the 
limits of the little town in which he resided, though he found a 
secret pleasure himself in pointing it out, in large scrolls of 
musty documents, to an only child, as enrolled among the 
former heroes and grandees of Old and of New Spain. This 
fact, so important to himself and of so little moment to anybody 
else, was the principal reason, that while his more vivacious 
Gallic neighbors were not slow to open a frank communion with 
their visitors, he chose to keep aloof, seemingly content with the 
society of his daughter, who was a girl just emerging from the 
condition of childhood into that of a woman. 

The curiosity of the youthful Inez, however, was not so 
inactive. She had not heard the martial music of the garrison 
melting on the evening air, nor seen the strange banner which 
fluttered over the heights that rose at no great distance from her 
father’s extensive grounds, without experiencing some of those 
secret impulses which are thought to distinguish the sex. Na- 
tural timidity, and that retiring and perhaps peculiar lassitude, 
which forms the very groundwork of female fascination in the 
tropical provinces of Spain, held her in their seemingly indisso- 
luble bonds ; and it is more than probable, that had not an 
accident occurred, in which Middleton was of some personal ser- 
vice to her father, so long a time would have elapsed before they 
met, that another direction might have been given to the wishes 


196 


THE PRAIRIE. 


of one, who was just of an age to be alive to all the power of 
youth and beauty. 

Providence — or if that imposing word is too just to be 
classical, fate — had otherwise decreed. The haughty and 
reserved Don Augustin was by far too observant of the forms 
of that station, on which he so much valued himself, to forget 
the duties of a gentleman. Gratitude for the kindness of Mid- 
dleton induced him to open his doors to the officers of the 
garrison, and to admit of a guarded but polite intercourse. 
Reserve gradually gave way before the propriety and candor of 
their spirited young leader, and it was not long ere the affluent 
planter rejoiced as much as his daughter, whenever the well 
known signal at the gate announced one of these agreeable 
visits from the commander of the post. 

It is unnecessary to dwell on the impression which the charms 
of Inez produced on the soldier, or to delay the tale in order to 
write a wire-drawn account of the progressive influence that 
elegance of deportment, manly beauty, and undivided assiduity 
and intelligence, were likely to produce on the sensitive mind of 
a romantic, warm-hearted, and secluded girl of sixteen. It is 
sufficient for our purpose to say that they loved, that the youth 
was not backward to declare his feelings, that he prevailed 
with some facility over the scruples of the maiden, and with 
no little difficulty over the objections of her father, and that 
before the province of Louisiana had been six months in the 
possession of the States, the officer of the latter was the 
affianced husband of the richest heiress on the banks of the 
Mississippi. 

Although we have presumed the reader to be acquainted with 
the manner in which such results are commonly attained, it is 
not to be supposed that the triumph of Middleton, either over 
the prejudices of the father or over those of the daughter, was 
achieved without difficulty. Religion formed a stubborn and 
nearly irremovable obstacle with both. The devoted young 
man patiently submitted to a formidable essay which father 
Ignatius was deputed to make in order to convert him to the 


THE PRAIRIE. 


197 


true faith. The effort on the part of the worthy priest was 
systematic., vigorous, and long sustained. A dozen times (it was 
at those moments when glimpses of the light, sylphlike form of 
Inez flitted like some fairy being past the scene of their confer- 
ences) the good father fancied he was on the eve of a glorious 
triumph over infidelity ; but all his hopes were frustrated by 
some unlooked-for opposition on the part of the subject of his 
pious labors. So long as the assault on his faith was distant 
and feeble, Middleton, who was no great proficient in polemics, 
submitted to its effects with the patience and humility of a 
martyr ; but the moment the good father who felt such concern 
in his future happiness, was tempted to improve his vantage 
ground by calling in the aid of some of the peculiar subtilties 
of his own creed, the young man was too good a soldier not to 
make head against the hot attack. He came to the contest, it 
is true, with no weapons more formidable than common sense, 
and some little knowledge of the habits of his country as 
contrasted with that of his adversary ; but with these home- 
bred implements he never failed to repulse the father with some- 
thing of the power with which a nervous cudgel-player would 
deal with a skilful master of the rapier, setting at naught his 
passados by the direct and unanswerable arguments of a broken 
head and a shivered weapon. 

Before the controversy was terminated, an inroad of Protes- 
tants had come to aid the soldier. The reckless freedom of 
such among them as thought only of this life, and the consistent 
and tempered piety of others, caused the honest priest to look 
about him in concern. The influence of example on the one hand, 
and the contamination of too free an intercourse on the other, 
began to manifest themselves even in that portion of his own 
flock which he had supposed to be too thoroughly folded in 
spiritual government ever to stray. It was time to turn his 
thoughts from the offensive, and to prepare his followers to 
resist the lawless deluge of opinion which threatened to break 
down the barriers of their faith. Like a wise commander who 
finds he has occupied too much ground for the amount of his 


198 


THE PRAIRIE. 


force, he began to curtail his outworks. The relics were con- 
cealed from profane eyes ; his people were admonished not to 
speak of miracles before a race that not only denied their exist- 
ence, but who had even the desperate hardihood to challenge 
their proofs ; and even the Bible itself was prohibited with terrible 
denunciations, for the triumphant reason that it was liable to be 
misinterpreted. 

In the meantime it became necessary to report to Don 
Augustin the effects his arguments and prayers had produced 
on the heretical disposition of the young soldier. No man is 
prone to confess his weakness at the very moment when circum- 
stances demand the utmost efforts of his strength. By a species 
of pious fraud, for which no doubt the worthy priest found his 
absolution in the purity of his motives, he declared that while 
no positive change was actually wrought in the mind of Mid- 
dleton, there was every reason to hope the entering wedge of 
argument had been driven to its head, and that in consequence 
an opening was left through which it might rationally be hoped 
the blessed seeds of a religious fructification would find their 
way, especially if the subject was left uninterruptedly to enjoy 
the advantage of catholic communion. 

Don Augustin himself was now seized with the desire of 
proselyting. Even the soft and amiable Inez thought it would 
be a glorious consummation of her wishes to be a humble 
instrument of bringing her lover into the bosom of the true 
church. The offers of Middleton were promptly accepted ; and, 
while the father looked forward impatiently to the day assigned 
for the nuptials as to the pledge of his own success, the daughter 
thought of it with feelings in which the holy emotions of her 
faith were blended with the softer sensations of her years and 
situation. 

The sun rose, the morning of her nuptials, on a day so bright 
and cloudless, that Inez hailed it as a harbinger of future happi- 
ness. Father Ignatius performed the offices of the church in a 
little chapel attached to the estate of Don Augustin ; and long 
ere the sun had begun to fall, Middleton pressed the blushing 


THE PRAIRIE. 


199 


and timid young Creole to his bosom, his acknowledged and 
unalienable wife. It had pleased the parties to pass the day of 
the wedding in retirement, dedicating it solely to the best and 
purest affections, aloof from the noisy and heartless rejoicings 
of a compelled festivity. 

Middleton was returning through the grounds of Don Augus- 
tin, from a visit of duty to his encampment, at that hour in 
which the light of the sun begins to melt into the shadows of 
evening, when a glimpse of a robe similar to that in which Inez 
had accompanied him to the altar, caught his eye through the 
foliage of a retired arbor. He approached the spot with a 
delicacy that was rather increased than diminished by the claim 
she had perhaps given him to intrude on her private moments; 
but the sounds of her soft voice which was offering up prayers 
in which he heard himself named by the dearest of all appella- 
tions, overcame his scruples, and induced him to take a position 
where he might listen without the fear of detection. It was 
certainly grateful to the feelings of a husband to be able in this 
manner to lay bare the spotless soul of his wife, and to find that 
his own image lay enshrined amid its purest and holiest aspira- 
tions. His self esteem was too much flattered not to induce 
him to overlook the immediate object of the petitioner. While 
she prayed that she might become the humble instrument of 
bringing him into the flock of the faithful, she petitioned for 
forgiveness on her own behalf, if presumption or indifference to 
the counsel of the church had caused her to set too high a value 
on her influence and led her into the dangerous error of hazard- 
ing her own soul by espousing a heretic. There was so much 
of fervent piety mingled with so strong a burst of natural feel- 
ing, so much of the woman blended with the angel in her 
prayers, that Middleton could have forgiven her had she termed 
him a Pagan, for the sweetness and interest with which she 
petitioned in his favor. 

The young man waited until his bride arose from her knees, 
and then he joined her, as if entirely ignorant of what had 
occurred. 


200 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ It is getting late, my Inez,” he said, “ and Don Augustin 
would be apt to reproach you with inattention to your health, 
in being abroad at such an hour. What then am I to do, who 
am charged with all his authority, and twice his love ?” 

“ Be like him in every thing,” she answered, looking up in 
his face, with tears in her eyes, and speaking with emphasis *, 
“ in every thing. Imitate my father, Middleton, and I can ask 
no more of you.” 

“ Nor for me, Inez ? I doubt not that I should be all you 
can wish, were I to become as good as the worthy and respecta- 
ble Don Augustin. But you are to make some allowances for 
the infirmities and habits of a soldier. Now let us go and join 
this excellent father.” 

“ Not yet,” said his bride, gently extricating herself from the 
arm that he had thrown around her slight form, while he urged 
her from the place. “ I have still another duty to perform, be- 
fore I can submit so implicitly to your orders, soldier though 
you are. I promised the worthy Inesella, my faithful nurse, she 
who, as you heard, has so long been a mother to me, Middleton 
— I promised her a visit at this hour. It is the last, as she 
thinks, that she can receive from her own child, and I cannot 
disappoint her. Go you then to Don Augustin ; in one short 
hour I will rejoin you.” 

“ Remember it is but an hour !” 

“ One hour,” repeated Inez, as she kissed her hand to him ; 
and then blushing, ashamed at her own boldness, she darted 
from the arbor, and was seen for an instant gliding towards the 
cottage of her nurse, in which at the next moment she disap- 
peared. 

Middleton returned slowly and thoughtfully to the house, 
often bending his eyes in the direction in which he had last 
seen his wife, as if he would fain trace her lovely form, in the 
gloom of the evening, still floating through the vacant space. 
Don Augustin received him with warmth, and for many minutes 
his mind was amused by relating to his new kinsman plans for 
the future. The exclusive old Spaniard listened to his glowing 


THE PRAIRIE. 


20) 


but true account of the prosperity and happiness of those State* 
of which he had been an ignorant neighbor half his life, partly 
in wonder and partly with that sort of incredulity with which, 
one attends to what he fancies are the exaggerated descriptions 
of a too partial friendship. 

In this manner the hour for which Inez had conditioned 
passed away much sooner than her husband could have thought 
possible, in her absence. At length his looks began to wander 
to the clock, and then the minutes were counted, as one rolled 
by after another, and Inez did not appear. The hand had 
already made half of another circuit around the face of the dial, 
when Middleton arose and announced his determination to go 
and offer himself as an escort to the absentee. He found the 
night dark and the heavens charged with threatening vapor, 
which in that climate was the infallible forerunner of a gust. 
Stimulated no less by the unpropitious aspect of the skies than 
b } 7 his secret uneasiness, he quickened his pace, making long 
and rapid strides in the direction of the cottage of Inesella. 
Twenty times he stopped, fancying that he caught glimpses of 
the fairy form of Inez, tripping across the grounds on her return 
to the mansion-house, and as often he was obliged to resume 
his course in disappointment. He reached the gate of the cot- 
tage, knocked, opened the door, entered, and even stood in the 
presence of the aged nurse, without meeting the person of her 
he sought. She had already left the place on her return to her 
father’s house ! Believing that he must have passed her in the 
darkness, Middleton retraced his steps to meet with another 
disappointment. Inez had not been seen. Without communi- 
cating his intention to any one, the bridegroom proceeded with 
a palpitating heart to the little sequestered arbor, where he had 
overheard his bride offering up those petitions for his happiness 
and conversion. Here, too, he was disappointed; and then 
all was afloat in the painful incertitude of doubt and con- 
jecture. 

For many hours a secret distrust of the motives of his wife 
caused Middleton to proceed in the search with delicacy and 

9 * 


202 


THE PRAIRIE. 


caution. But as day dawned, without restoring her to the 
arms of her fathei or her husband, reserve was thrown aside, 
and her unaccountable absence was loudly proclaimed. The 
inquiries after the lost Inez were now direct and open ; but 
they proved equally fruitless. No one had seen her or 
heard of her, from the moment that she left the cottage of her 
nurse. 

Day succeeded day, and still no tidings rewarded the search 
that was immediately instituted, until she was finally given over 
by most of her relations and friends, as irretrievably lost. 

An event of so extraordinary a character was not likely to be 
soon forgotten. It excited speculation, gave rise to an infinity 
of rumors and not a few inventions. The prevalent opinion 
among such of those emigrants who were overrunning the 
country, as had time in the multitude of their employments to 
think of any foreign concerns, was the simple and direct conclu- 
sion that the absent bride was no more nor less than a fclo de se. 
Father Ignatius had many doubts and much secret compunction 
of conscience ; but, like a wise chief, he endeavored to turn the 
sad event to some account in the impending warfare of faith. 
Changing his battery, he whispered in the ears of a few of his 
oldest parishioners that he had been deceived in the state of 
Middleton’s mind, which he was now compelled to believe was 
completely stranded on the quicksands of heresy. He began to 
show his relics again, and was even heard to allude once more 
to the delicate and nearly forgotten subject of modern miracles. 
In consequence of these demonstrations on the part of the vene- 
rable priest, it came to be whispered among the faithful, and 
finally it was adopted as part of the parish creed, that Inez had 
been translated to heaven. 

Don Augustin had all the feelings of a father, but they were 
smothered in the lassitude of a Creole. Like his spiritual 
governor, he began to think that they had been wrong in con- 
signing one so pure, so young, so lovely, and above all so pious, 
to the arms of a heretic ; and he was fain to believe that the 
calamity which had befallen his age was a judgment on hia 


THE PRAIRIE. 


203 


presumption and want of adherence to established forms. It is 
true, that as the whispers of the congregation came to his ears 
he found present consolation in their belief ; but then nature 
was too powerful, and had too strong a hold of the old man’s 
heart not to give rise to the rebellious thought that the suc- 
cession of his daughter to the heavenly inheritance was a little 
premature. 

But Middleton, the lover, the husband, the bridegroom — 
Middleton was nearly crushed by the weight of the unexpected 
and terrible blow. Educated himself under the dominion of a 
simple and rational faith in which nothing is attempted to be 
concealed from the believers, he could have no other apprehen- 
sions for the fate of Inez than such as grew out of his knowledge 
of the superstitious opinions she entertained of his own church. 
It is needless to dwell on the mental tortures that he endured, 
or all the various surmises, hopes, and disappointments, that he 
was fated to experience in the first few weeks of his misery. A 
jealous distrust of the motives of Inez, and a secret, lingering 
hope that he should yet find her, had tempered his inquiries, 
without, however, causing him to abandon them entirely. But 
time was beginning to deprive him even of the mortifying 
reflection that he was intentionally, though perhaps temporarily 
deserted, and he was gradually yielding to the more painful 
conviction that she was dead, when his hopes were suddenly 
revived in a new and singular manner. 

The young commander was slowly and sorrowfully returning 
from an evening parade of his troops to his own quarters, which 
stood at some little distance from the place of the encampment, 
and on the same high bluff* of land, when his vacant eyes fell 
on the figure of a man, who by the regulations of the place 
was not entitled to be there at that forbidden hour. The 
stranger was meanly dressed, with every appearance about his 
person and countenance of squalid poverty and of the most dis- 
solute habits. Sorrow had softened the military pride of Mid- 
dleton, and, as he passed the crouching form of the intruder, he 
said, in tones of great mildness, or rather of kindness — 


204 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ You will be given a nigbt in the guard-house, friend, should 
the patrol find you here ; — there is a dollar, go and get a better 
place to sleep in, and something to eat !” 

“ I swallow all my food, captain, without chewing,” returned 
the vagabond, with the low exultation of an accomplished villain, 
as he eagerly seized the silver. “ Make this Mexican twenty, 
and I will sell you a secret.” 

“ Go, go,” said the other, with a little of a soldier’s severity 
returning to his manner. “Go, before I order the guard to 
seize you.” 

“ Well, go I will ; — but if I do go, captain, I shall take my 
knowledge with me ; and then you may live a widower 
bewitched till the tattoo of life is beat off.” 

“What mean you, fellow?” exclaimed Middleton, turning 
quickly towards the wretch, who was already dragging his 
diseased limbs from the place. 

“ I mean to have the value of this dollar in Spanish brandy, 
and then come back and sell you my secret for enough to buy a 
barrel.” 

“ If you have anything to say, speak now,” continued Middle- 
ton, restraining with difficulty the impatience that urged him to 
betray his feelings. 

“ I am a-dry, and I can never talk with elegance when my 
throat is husky, captain. How much will you give to know 
what I can tell you ; let it be something handsome ; such as 
one gentleman can offer to another.” 

“I believe it would be better justice to order the drummer to 
pay you a visit, fellow. To what does your boasted secret relate ?” 

“ Matrimony ; a wife and no wife ; a pretty face and a rich 
bride ; do I speak plain, now, captain ?” 

“ If you know anything relating to my wife, say it at once ; 
you need not fear for your reward.” 

“ Ay, captain, I have drove many a bargain in my time, and 
sometimes I have been paid in money, and sometimes I have 
been paid in promises ; now the last are what I call pinching 
food” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


205 


“ Name your price.” 

“ Twenty — no, damn it, it's worth thirty dollars, if it’s worth 
a cent I” 

“ Here, then, is your money ; but remember, if you tell me 
nothing worth knowing, I have a force that can easily deprive 
you of it again, and punish your insolence into the bargain.” 

The fellow examined the bank-bills he received, with a jealous 
eye, and then pocketed them, apparently well satisfied of their 
being genuine. 

“ I like a northern note,” he said very coolly ; u they have a 
character to lose like myself. No fear of me, captain ; I am a 
man of honor, and I shall not tell you a word more nor a word 
less than I know of my own knowledge to be true.” 

“ Proceed then without further delay, or I may repent, and 
order you to be deprived of all your gains ; the silver as well as 
the notes.” 

“ Honor, if you die for it !” returned the miscreant, holding 
up a hand in affected horror at so treacherous a threat. “ Well, 
captain, you must know that gentlemen don’t all live by the 
same calling ; some keep what they’ve got, and some get what 
they can.” 

“ You have been a thief.” 

“ I scorn the word. I have been a humanity hunter. Do 
you know what that means ? Ay, it has many interpretations. 
Some people think the woolly-heads are miserable, working on 
hot plantations under a broiling sun — and all such sorts of 
inconveniences. Well, captain, I have been, in my time, a man 
who has been willing to give them the pleasures of variety, at 
least, by changing the scene for them. You understand 
me ?” 

“ You are, in plain language, a kidnapper.” 

“ Have been, my worthy captain — have been ; but just now 
a little reduced, like a merchant who leaves off selling tobacco 
by the hogshead, to deal in it by the yard. I have been a 
soldier, too, in my day. What is said to be the great secret of 
our trade, can you tell me that ?” 


206 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ I know not,” said Middleton, beginning to tire of the fellow’s 
trifling : “ courage ?” 

“ No, legs — legs to fight with, and legs to run away with — 
and therein you see my two callings agreed. My legs are none 
of the best just now, and without legs a kidnapper would carry 
on a losing trade ; but then there are men enough left, better 
provided than I am.” 

“ Stolen !” groaned the horror-struck husband. 

“ On her travels, as sure as you are standing still !” 

“Villain, what reason have you for believing a thing so 
shocking ?” 

“ Hands off— hands off— do you think my tongue can do its 
work the better, for a little squeezing of the throat! Have 
patience, and you shall know it all ; but if you treat me so 
ungenteelly again, I shall be obliged to call in the assistance of 
the lawyers.” 

“ Say on ; but if you utter a single word more or less than 
the truth, expect instant vengeance !” 

“ Are you fool enough to believe what such a scoundrel as I 
am tells you, captain, unless it has probability to back it ? I 
know you are not ; therefore I will give my facts and my 
opinions, and then leave you to chew on them, while I go 
and drink of your generosity. I know a man who is called 
Abiram White. — I believe the knave took that name to show 
his enmity to the race of blacks ! But this gentleman is 
now, and has been for years, to my certain knowledge, a regular 
translator of the human body from one State to another. I 
have dealt with him in my time, and a cheating dog he is ! No 
more honor in him than meat in my stomach. I saw him here 
in this very town, the day of your wedding. He was in com- 
pany with his wife’s brother, and pretended to be a settler on 
the hunt for new land. A noble set they were, to carry on 
business — seven sons, each of them as tall as your serjeant with 
his cap on. Well, the moment I heard that your wife was 
lost, I saw at once that Abiram had laid his hands on 
her.” 


THE PRAIRIE. 207 

“ Do you know this — can this be true ? W hat reason have 
you to fancy a thing so wild ?” 

“ Reason enough ; I know Abiram White. Now, will you 
add a trifle just to keep my throat from parching?” 

“ Go, go ; you are stupified with drink already, miserable 
man, and know not what you say. Go ; go, and beware the 
drummer.” 

“ Experience is a good guide” — the fellow called after the 
retiring Middleton ; and then turning with a chuckling laugh, 
like one well satisfied with himself, he made the best of his way 
towards the shop of the suttler. 

A hundred times in the course of that night did Middleton 
fancy that the communication of the miscreant was entitled to 
some attention, and as often did he reject the idea as too wild 
and visionary for another thought. He was awakened early on 
the following morning, after passing a restless and nearly 
sleepless night, by his orderly, who came to report that a man 
was found dead on the parade, at no great distance from his 
quarters. Throwing on his clothes he proceeded to the spot, 
and beheld the individual with whom he had held the preceding 
conference, in the precise situation in which he had first been 
found. 

The miserable wretch had fallen a victim to his intemperance. 
This revolting fact was sufficiently proclaimed by his obtruding 
eyeballs, his bloated countenance, and the nearly insufferable 
odors that were even then exhaling from his carcase. Disgusted 
with the odious spectacle, the youth was turning from the sight, 
after ordering the corpse to be removed, when the position of 
one of the dead man’s hands struck him. On examination, he 
found the fore-finger extended, as if in the act of writing in the 
sand, with the following incomplete sentence, nearly illegible, 
but yet in a state to be deciphered ; “ Captain, it is true, as I 

am a gentle ” He had either died, or fallen into a sleep, 

the forerunner of his death, before the latter word was finished. 

Concealing this fact from the others, Middleton repeated his 
orders and departed. The pertinacity of the deceased, and all 


208 


THE PRAIRIE. 


the circumstances united, induced him to set on foot some secret 
inquiries. He found that a family answering the description 
which had been given him, had in fact passed the place the day 
of his nuptials. They were traced along the margin of the 
Mississippi for some distance, until they took boat and ascended 
the river to its confluence with the Missouri. Here they had 
disappeared like hundreds of others, in pursuit of the hidden 
wealth of the interior. 

Furnished with these facts, Middleton detailed a small guard 
of his most trusty men, took leave of Don Augustin without 
declaring his hopes or his fears, and having arrived at the 
indicated point he pushed into the wilderness in pursuit. It was 
not difficult to trace a train like that of Ishmael until he was 
assured its object lay far beyond the usual limits of the settle- 
ments. This circumstance in itself quickened his suspicions and 
gave additional force to his hopes of final success. 

After getting beyond the assistance of verbal directions, the 
anxious husband had recourse to the usual signs of a trail, in 
order to follow the fugitives. This he also found a task of no 
difficulty, until he reached the hard and unyielding soil of the 
rolling prairies. Here, indeed, he was completely at fault. He 
found himself, at length, compelled to divide his followers, 
appointing a place of rendezvous at a distant day, and to 
endeavor to find the lost trail by multiplying, as much as 
possible, the number of his eyes. He had been alone a week, 
when accident brought him in contact with the trapper and the 
bee-hunter. Part of their interview has been related, and the 
reader can readily imagine the explanations that succeeded the 
tale he recounted, and which led, as has already been seen, to the 
recovery of his bride. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


209 


CHAPTER XVI. 

“ These likelihoods confirm her flight from hence, 

Therefore, I pray you, stay not to discourse, 

But mount you presently.” 

Shakspkare. 

An hour had slid by in hasty and nearly incoherent questions 
and answers, before Middleton, hanging over his recovered 
treasure with that sort of jealous watchfulness with which a 
miser would regard his hoards, closed the disjointed narrative of 
his own proceedings by demanding — 

“ And you, my Inez ; in what manner were you treated ?” 

“ In everything but the great injustice they did in separating 
me so forcibly from my friends, as well, perhaps, as the circum- 
stances of my captors would allow. I think the man who is 
certainly the master here, is but a new beginner in wickedness. 
He quarrelled frightfully in my presence with the wretch who 
seized me, and then they made an impious bargain, to which I 
was compelled to acquiesce, and to which they bound me as well 
as themselves, by oaths. Ah ! Middleton, I fear the heretics are 
not so heedful of their vows as we who are nurtured in the 
bosom of the true church !” 

“ Believe it not ; these villains are of no religion ! did they 
forswear themselves ?” 

“ No, not perjured ; but was it not awful to call upon the 
good God to witness so sinful a compact ?” 

“ And so we think, Inez, as truly as the most virtuous cardinal 
of Rome. But how did they observe their oath, and what was 
its purport ?” 

“ They conditioned to leave me unmolested, and free from 
their odious presence, provided I would give a pledge to make 


210 


TIIE PRAIRIE. 


no effort to escape ; and that I would not even show myself 
until a time that my masters saw fit to name.” 

“ And that time ?” demanded the impatient Middleton, who 
so well knew the religious scruples of his wife — “ that time ?” 

“ It is already passed. I was sworn by my patron saint, and 
faithfully did I keep the vow, until the man they call Ishmael 
forgot the terms by offering violence. I then made my appear- 
ance on the rock, for the time too was passed ; though I even 
think father Ignatius would have absolved me from the vow, on 
account of the treachery of my keepers.” 

“ If he had not,” muttered the youth between his compressed 
teeth, “ I would have absolved him for ever from his spiritual care 
of your conscience !” 

“ You, Middleton !” returned his wife, looking up into his 
flushed face, while a bright flush suffused her own sweet counte- 
nance ; “you may receive my vows, but surely you can have no 
power to absolve me from their observance !” 

“ No, no, no. Inez, you are right. I know but little of these 
conscientious subtilties, and I am anything but a priest : yet tell 
me, what has induced these monsters to play this desperate 
game — to trifle thus with my happiness ?” 

“ You know my ignorance of the world, and how ill I am 
qualified to furnish reasons for the conduct of beings so different 
from any I have ever seen before. But does not love of money 
drive men to acts even worse than this ? I believe they thought 
that an aged and wealthy father could be tempted to pay them 
a rich ransom for his child ; and, perhaps,” she added, stealing 
an inquiring glance through her tears at the attentive Middle- 
ton, “ they counted something on the fresh affections of a bride- 
groom.” 

“ They might have extracted the blood from my heart drop 
by drop !” 

“ Yes,” resumed his young and timid wife, instantly with- 
drawing the stolen look she had hazarded, and hurriedly pur- 
suing the train of the discourse, as if glad to make him forget 
the liberty she had just taken, “ I have been told there are men 


THE PRAIRIE. 


211 


so base as to perjure themselves at the altar in order to command 
the gold of ignorant and confiding girls ; and if love of money- 
will lead to such baseness, we may surely expect it will hurry 
those who devote themselves to gain into acts of lesser 
fraud.” 

“ It must be so ; and now, Inez, though I am here to guard 
you with my life, and we are in possession of this rock, our 
difficulties, perhaps our dangers, are not ended. You will sum- 
mon all your courage to meet the trial, and prove yourself a 
soldier’s wife, my Inez ?” 

“ I am ready to depart this instant. The letter you sent by 
the physician had prepared me to hope for the best, and I have 
everything arranged for flight at the shortest warning.” 

“ Let us then leave this place and join our friends.” 

“ Friends !” interrupted Inez, glancing her eyes around the 
little tent in quest of the form of Ellen. “ I, too, have a friend 
who must not be forgotten, but who is pledged to pass the 
remainder of her life with us. She is gone !” 

Middleton gently led her from the spot, as he smilingly 
answered — 

“ She may have had, like myself, her own private communi- 
cations for some favored ear.” 

The young man had not, however, done justice to the motives 
of Ellen Wade. The sensitive and intelligent girl had readily 
perceived how little her presence was necessary in the interview 
that has just been related, and had retired with that intuitive 
delicacy of feeling which seems to belong more properly to her 
sex. She was now to be seen seated on a point of the rock, 
with her person so entirely enveloped in her dress as to conceal 
her features. Here she had remained for near an hour, no one 
approaching to address her, and as it appeared to her own 
quick and jealous eyes, totally unobserved. In the latter parti- 
cular, however, even the vigilance of the quick -sighted Ellen 
was deceived. 

The first act of Paul Hover, on finding himself the master of 
Ishmael’s citadel, had been to sound the note of victory, after 


212 


THE PRAIRIE. 


the quaint and ludicrous manner that is so often practised 
among the borderers of the West. Flapping his sides with his 
hands, as the conquering game-cock is wont to do with his wings, 
he raised a loud and laughable imitation of the exultation of 
this bird ; a cry which might have proved a dangerous challenge 
had any one of the athletic sons of the squatter been within 
hearing. 

“ This has been a regular knock-down and drag-out,” he cried, 

“ and no bones broke ! How now, old trapper, you have been 
one of your training, platoon, rank and file soldiers in your day, 
and have seen forts taken and batteries stormed before this — am 
I right?” 

“ Ay, ay, that have I,” answered the old man, who still main- 
tained his post at the foot of the rock, so little disturbed by what 
he had just witnessed as to return the grin of Paul with a 
hearty indulgence in his own silent and peculiar laughter ; “you 
have gone through the exploit like men !” 

“ Now tell me, is it not in rule to call over the names of the 
living, and to bury the dead after every bloody battle ?” 

“ Some did and other some didn’t. When Sir William 
pushed the German, Dieskau, thro’ the defiles at the foot of the 
Hori ” 

“Your Sir William was a drone to Sir Paul, and knew 
nothing of regularity. So here begins the roll-call — by the by, 
old man, what between bee-hunting and buffalo humps, and 
certain other matters, I have been too busy to ask your name ; 
for I intend to begin with my rear-guard, well knowing that my 
man in front is too busy to answer.” 

“ Lord, lad, I’ve been called in my time by as many names 
as there are people among whom I’ve dwelt. Now the Dela- 
wares nam’d me for my eyes, and I was called after the far- 
sighted hawk. Then, ag’in, the settlers in the Otsego hills 
christened me anew from the fashion of my leggings ; and 
various have been the names by which I have gone through 
life ; but little will it matter when the time shall come that all * 
are to be mustered, face to face, by what titles a mortal has 


THE PRAIRIE. 


213 


played his part ! I humbly trust I shall be able to answer to 
any of mine in a loud and manly voice.” 

Paul paid little or no attention to this reply, more than half 
of which was lost in the distance, but pursuing the humor of the 
moment, he called out in a stentorian voice to the naturalist to 
answer to his name. Dr. Battius had not thought it necessary 
to push his success beyond the comfortable niche which accident 
had so opportunely formed for his protection, and in which he 
now reposed from his labors with a pleasing consciousness of 
security, added to great exultation at the possession of the bota- 
nical treasure already mentioned. 

“Mount, mount, my worthy mole-catcher ! come and behold 
the prospect of skirting Ishmael ; come and look nature boldly 
in the face, and not go sneaking any longer among the prairie 
grass and mullin tops, like a gobbler nibbling for grasshoppers.” 

The mouth of the light-hearted and reckless bee-hunter was 
instantly closed, and he was rendered as mute as he had just 
been boisterous and talkative, by the appearance of Ellen Wade. 
When the melancholy maiden took her seat on the point of the 
rock as mentioned, Paul affected to employ himself in conducting 
a close inspection of the household effects of the squatter. He 
rummaged the drawers of Esther with no delicate hands, scat- 
tered the rustic finery of her girls on the ground without the 
least deference to its quality or elegance, and tossed her pots 
and kettles here and there as though they had been vessels of 
wood instead of iron. All this industry was, however, mani- 
festly without an object. He reserved nothing for himself, not even 
appearing conscious of the nature of the articles which suffered 
by his familiarity. When he had examined the inside of every 
cabin, taken a fresh survey of the spot where he had confined 
the children, and where he had thoroughly secured them with 
cords, and kicked one of the pails of the woman like a foot-ball 
fifty feet into the air in sheer wantonuess, he returned to the 
edge of the rock, and thrusting both his hands through his 
wampum belt he began to whistle the “ Kentucky Hunters” as 
diligently as if he had been hired to supply his auditors with 


214 


THE PRAIRIE. 


music by the hour. In this manner passed the remainder of 
the time until Middleton, as has been related, led Inez forth 
from the tent, and gave a new direction to the thoughts of the 
whole party. He summoned Paul from his flourish of music, 
tore the Doctor from the study of his plant, and, as ac- 
knowledged leader, gave the necessary orders for immediate 
departure. 

In the bustle and confusion that were likely to succeed such a 
mandate, there was little opportunity to indulge in complaints 
or reflections. As the adventurers had not come unprepared 
for victory, each individual employed himself in such offices as 
were best adapted to his strength and situation. The trapper 
had already made himself master of the patient Asinus, who 
was quietly feeding at no great distance from the rock, and he 
was now busy in fitting his back with the complicated machinery 
that Dr. Battius saw fit to term a saddle of his own invention. 
The naturalist himself seized upon his portfolios, herbals, and 
collection of insects, which he quickly transferred from the 
encampment of the squatter to certain pockets in the aforesaid 
ingenious invention, and which the trapper as uniformly cast 
away the moment his back was turned. Paul showed his dex- 
terity in removing such light articles as Inez and Ellen had 
prepared for their flight to the foot of the citadel ; while Middle- 
ton, after mingling threats and promises in order to induce the 
children to remain quietly in their bondage, assisted the females 
to descend. As time began to press upon them, and there was 
great danger of Ishmael’s returning, these several movements 
were made with singular industry and despatch. 

The trapper bestowed such articles as he conceived were 
necessary to the comfort of the weaker and more delicate mem- 
bers of the party, in those pockets from which he had so uncere- 
moniously expelled the treasures of the unconscious naturalist, 
and then gave way for Middleton to place Inez in one of those 
seats which he had prepared on the back of the animal for her 
and her companion. 

“ Go, child,” the old man said, motioning to Ellen to follow 


THE PRAIRIE. 


215 


the example of the lady, and turning his head a little anxiously 
to examine the waste behind him. “ It cannot be long afore 
the owner of this place will be coming to look after his house- 
hold ; and he is not a man to give up his property, however 
obtained, without complaint !” 

“ It is true,” cried Middleton ; “ we have wasted moments 
that are precious, and have the utmost need of industry.” 

“ Ay, ay, I thought it ; and would have said it, captain ; but 
I remembered how your grand’ther used to love to look upon 
the face of her he led away for a wife, in the days of his youth 
and his happiness. ’Tis natur’, ’tis natur’, and ’tis wiser to give 
way a little before its feelings, than to try to stop a current that 
will have its course.” 

Ellen advanced to the side of the beast, and seizing Inez by 
the hand, she said, with heartfelt warmth, after struggling to 
suppress an emotion that nearly choked her — 

“ God bless you, sweet lady ! I hope you will forget and 
forgive the wrongs you have received from my uncle ” 

The humbled and sorrowful girl could say no more, her 
voice becoming entirely inaudible in an ungovernable burst of 
grief. 

“ How is this ?” cried Middleton ; “ did you not say, Inez, 
that this excellent young woman was to accompany us, and to 
live with us for the remainder of her life ; or at least, until she 
found some more agreeable residence for herself?” 

“ I did ; and I still hope it. She has always given me reason 
to believe, that after having shown so much commiseration and 
friendship in my misery, she would not desert me, should hap- 
pier times return.” 

“ I cannot — I ought not,” continued Ellen, getting the better 
of her momentary weakness. “ It has pleased God to cast my 
lot among these people, and I ought not to quit them. It 
would be adding the appearance of treachery to what will 
already seem bad enough, with one of his opinions. He has 
been kind to me, an orphan, after his rough customs, and I 
cannot steal from him at such a moment .” 


210 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ She is just as much a relation of skirting Ishmael as I am a 
bishop !” said Paul, with a loud hem, as if his throat wanted 
clearing. “ If the old fellow has done the honest thing by her, 
in giving her a morsel of venison now and then, or a spoon 
around his homminy dish, hasn’t she pay’d him in teaching the 
young devils to read their Bible, or in helping old Esther to put 
her finery in shape and fashion. Tell me that a drone has a 
sting, and I’ll believe you as easily as I will that this young 
woman is a debtor to any of the tribe of Bush !” 

“ It is but little matter who owes me or where I am in debt. 
There are none to care for a girl who is fatherless and mother- 
less, and whose nearest kin are the offcasts of all honest people. 
No, no ; go, lady, and Heaven for ever bless you ! I am better 
here, in this desert, where there are none to know my shame.” 

“ Now, old trapper,” retorted Paul, “ this is what I call 
knowing which way the wind blows ! You ar’ a man that has 
seen life, and you know something of fashions ; I put it to your 
judgment plainly, isn’t it in the nature of things for the hive to 
swarm when the young get their growth, and if children will 
quit their parents, ought one who is of no kith or kin ” 

“ Hist !” interrupted the man he addressed, “ Hector is 
discontented. Say it out plainly, pup ; what is it, dog — what 
is it?” 

The venerable hound had risen, and was scenting the fresh 
breeze which continued to sweep heavily over the prairie. At 
the words of his master he growled and contracted the muscles 
of his lips, as if half disposed to threaten with the remnants of 
his teeth. The younger dog, who was resting after the chase 
of the morning, also made some signs that his nose detected a 
taint in the air, and then the two resumed their slumbers, as if 
they had done enough. 

The trapper seized the bridle of the ass, and cried, urging the 
beast onward — 

“ There is no time for words. The squatter and his brood 
are within a mile or two of this blessed spot !” 

Middleton lost all recollection of Ellen in the danger which 


THE PRAIRIE. 


21*7 

now so imminently beset his recovered bride ; nor is it necessary 
to add that Dr. Battius did not wait for a second admonition to 
commence his retreat. 

Following the route indicated by the old man they turned 
the rock in a body, and pursued their way as fast as possible 
across the prairie under the favor of the cover it afforded. 

Paul Hover, however, remained in his tracks, sullenly leaning 
on his rifle. Near a minute had elapsed before he was observed 
by Ellen, who had buried her face in her hands to conceal her 
fancied desolation from herself. 

“ Why do you not fly ?” the weeping girl exclaimed, the 
instant she perceived she was not alone. 

“ I’m not used to it.” 

“ My uncle will soon be here ! you have nothing to hope from 
his pity.” 

“ Nor from that of his niece, I reckon. Let him come ; he 
can only knock me on the head I” 

“ Paul, Paul, if you love me, fly.” 

“ Alone ! — if I do may I be ” 

“ If you value your life, fly !” 

“ I value it not compared to you.” 

“Paul !” 

“Ellen!” 

She extended both her hands, and burst into another and a 
still more violent flood of tears. The bee-hunter put one of his 
sturdv arms around her waist, and in another moment he was 
urging her over the plain, in rapid pursuit of their flying 
friends. 


10 


218 


THE PRAIRIE. 


CHAPTER XVII. 

“Approach the chamber, &nd destroy your sight 
With a new Gorgon. — Do not bid me speak ; 

See, and then speak yourselves.” 

Shakspeard. 

The little run which supplied the family of the squatter with 
water, and nourished the trees and bushes that grew near the 
base of the rocky eminence, took its rise at no great distance 
from the latter, in a small thicket of cottonwood and vines. 
Hither, then, the trapper directed the flight, as to the place 
affording the only available cover in so pressing an emergency. 
It will be remembered that the sagacity of the old man, which, 
from long practice in similar scenes, amounted nearly to an 
instinct in all cases of sudden danger, had first induced him to 
take this course, as it placed the hill between them and the 
approaching party. Favored by this circumstance, he succeeded 
in reaching the bushes in sufficient time ; and Paul Hover had 
just hurried the breathless Ellen into the tangled brush as 
Ishmael gained the summit of the rock in the manner already 
described, where he stood like a man momentarily bereft of 
sense, gazing at the confusion which had been created among 
his chattels, or at his gagged and bound children, who had been 
safely bestowed, by the forethought of the bee-hunter, under 
the cover of a bark roof, in a sort of irregular pile. A long rifle 
would have thrown a bullet from the height on which the 
squatter now stood into the very cover where the fugitives who 
had wrought all this mischief were clustered. 

The trapper was the first to speak, as the man on whose 
intelligence and experience they all depended for counsel, after 
running his eye over the different individuals who gathered 
about him, in order to see that none were missing. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


219 


“All ! natur’ is natur’, and has done its work !” he said, nod- 
ding to the exulting Paul, with a smile of approbation. “I 
thought it would be hard for those who had so often met in fair 
and foul, by starlight and under the clouded moon, to part at 
last in anger. Now is there little time to lose in talk, and 
everything to gain by industry ! It cannot be long afore some 
of yonder brood will be nosing along the ’arth for our trail, and 
should they find it, as find it they surely will, and should they 
push us to stand on our courage, the dispute must be settled with 
the rifle ; which may He in heaven forbid ! Captain, can you 
lead us to the place where any of your warriors lie ? — For the 
stout sons of the squatter will make a manly brush of it, or I 
am but little of a judge in warlike dispositions !” 

“ The place of rendezvous is many leagues from this, on the 
banks of La Platte.” 

“ It is bad — it is bad. If fighting is to be done it is always 
wise to enter on it on equal terms. But what has one so near 
his time to do with ill-blood and hot-blood at his heart ! Listen 
to what a grey head and some experience have to offer, and then 
if any among you can point out a wiser fashion for a retreat, we 
can just follow his design and forget that I have spoken. This 
thicket stretches for near a mile as it may be slanting from 
the rock, and leads towards the sunset instead of the settle- 
ments.” 

“ Enough, enough,” cried Middleton, too impatient to wait 
until the deliberative and perhaps loquacious old man could end 
his minute explanation. “ Time is too precious for words. Let 
us fly.” 

The trapper made a gesture of compliance, and turning in his 
tracks he led Asinus across the trembling earth of the swale, 
and quickly emerged on the hard ground on the side opposite 
to the encampment of the squatter. 

“ If old Ishmael gets a squint at that highway through the 
brush,” cried Paul, casting, as he left the place, a hasty glance 
at the broad trail the party had made through the thicket, “ hell 
need no finger-board to tell him which way his road lies. But 


220 


THE PRAIRIE. 


let him follow ! I know the vagabond would gladly cross his 
breed with a little honest blood, but if any son of his ever gets 
to be the husband of ” 

“ Hush, Paul, hush,” said the terrified young woman, who 
leaned on his arm for support ; “ your voice might be heard ” 

The bee-hunter was silent, though he did not cease to cast 
ominous looks behind him as they flew along the edge of the 
run, which sufficiently betrayed the belligerent condition of his 
mind. As each one was busy for himself, but a few minutes 
elapsed before the party rose a swell of the prairie, and descend- 
ing without a moment’s delay on the opposite side, they were 
at once removed from every danger of being seen by the sons 
of Ishmael, unless the pursuers should happen to- fall upon their 
trail. The old man now profited by the formation of the land 
to take another direction with a view to elude pursuit, as a ves- 
sel changes her course in fogs and darkness to escape from the 
vigilance of her enemies. 

Two hours passed in the utmost diligence enabled them to 
make a half circuit around the rock, and to reach a point that 
was exactly opposite to the original direction of their flight. 
To most of the fugitives their situation was as entirely unknown 
as is that of a ship in the middle of the ocean to the uninstructed 
voyager : but the old man proceeded at every turn, and through 
every bottom, with a decision that inspired his followers with 
confidence, as it spoke favorably of his own knowledge of the 
localities. His hound, stopping now and then to catch the 
expression of his eye, had preceded the trapper throughout the 
whole distance with as much certainty as though a previous 
and intelligible communion between them had established the 
route by which they were to proceed. But, at the expiration 
of the time just named, the dog suddenly came to a stand, and 
then seating himself on the prairie, he snuffed the air a moment, 
and began a low and piteous whining. 

“Ay — pup — ay. I know the spot — I know the spot, and 
reason there is to remember it well !” said the old man, stopping 
by the side of his uneasy associate, until those who followed had 


THE PRAIRIE. 


221 


time to come up. “Now, yonder is a thicket before us,” he 
continued, pointing forward, “ where we may lie till tall trees 
grow on these naked fields afore any of the squatter’s kin will 
venture to molest us.” 

“ This is the spot where the body of the dead man lay !” 
cried Middleton, examining the place with an eye that revolted 
at the recollection. 

“ The very same. But whether his friends have put him in 
the bosom of the ground or not, remains to be seen. The hound 
knows the scent, but seems to be a little at a loss, too. It is 
therefore necessary that you advance, friend bee-hunter, to 
examine, while I tarry to keep the dogs from complaining in too 
loud a voice.” 

“ I !” exclaimed Paul, thrusting his hand into his shaggy 
locks, like one who thought it prudent to hesitate before he 
undertook so formidable an adventure; “now, hark’ee, old 
trapper ; I’ve stood in my thinnest cottons in the midst of many 
a swarm that has lost its queen-bee, without winking, and let me 
tell you the man who can do that is not likely to fear any living 
son of skirting Ishmael ; but as to meddling with dead men’s 
bones, why it is neither my calling nor my inclination ; so, after 
thanking you for the favor of your choice, as they say when 
they make a man a corporal in Kentucky, I decline serving.” 

The old man turned a disappointed look towards Middleton, 
who was too much occupied in solacing Inez to observe his 
embarrassment, which was, however, suddenly relieved from a 
quarter, whence, from previous circumstances, there was little 
reason to expect such a demonstration of fortitude. 

Doctor Battius had rendered himself a little remarkable 
throughout the whole of the preceding retreat, for the exceeding 
diligence with which he had labored to effect that desirable 
object. So very conspicuous was his zeal, indeed, as to have 
entirely got the better of all his ordinary predilections. The 
worthy naturalist belonged to that species of discoverers who 
make the worst possible .travelling companions to a man who 
has reason to be in a hurry. No stone, no bush, no plant, is 


222 


THE PRAIRIE. 


ever suffered to escape the examination of their vigilant eyes, 
and thunder may mutter, and rain fall, •without disturbing the 
abstraction of their reveries. Not so, however, with the disciple 
of Linnaeus, during the momentous period that it remained a 
mooted point at the tribunal of his better judgment, whether 
the stout descendants of the squatter were not likely to dispute 
his right to traverse the prairie in freedom. The highest blooded 
and best trained hound, with his game in view, could not have 
run with an eye more riveted than that with which the Doctor 
had pursued his curvilinear course. It was perhaps lucky for 
his fortitude that he was ignorant of the artifice of the trapper 
in leading them around the citadel of Ishmael, and that he had 
imbibed the soothing impression that every inch of prairie he 
traversed was just so much added to the distance between his 
own person and the detested rock. Notwithstanding the 
momentary shock he certainly experienced when he discovered 
this error, he now boldly volunteered to enter the thicket in 
which there was some reason to believe the body of the 
murdered Asa still lay. Perhaps the naturalist was urged to 
show his spirit on this occasion, by some secret consciousness 
that his excessive industry in the retreat might be liable to 
misconstruction ; and it is certain that whatever might be his 
peculiar notions of danger from the quick, his habits and his 
knowledge had placed him far above the apprehension of suffer- 
ing harm from any communication with the dead. 

“ If there is any service to be performed which requires the 
perfect command of the nervous system,” said the man of 
science, with a look that was slightly blustering, “ you have only 
to give a direction to his intellectual faculties, and here stands 
one on whose physical powers you may depend.” 

“ The man is given to speak in parables,” muttered the single- 
minded trapper ; “ but I conclude there is always some meaning 
hidden in his words, though it is as hard to find sense in his 
speeches as to discover three eagles on the same tree. It will 
be wise, friend, to make a cover, lest the sons of the squatter 
should be out skirting on our trail, and as you well know, there 


THE PRAIRIE. 


223 


is some reason to fear yonder thicket contains a sight that may 
horrify a woman’s mind. Are you man enough to look death 
in the face ; or shall I run the risk of the hounds raising an 
outcry, and go in myself? You see the pup is willing to run 
in with an open mouth already.” 

“Am I man enough! Venerable trapper, our communica- 
tions have a recent origin, or thy interrogatory might have a 
tendency to embroil us in angry disputation. Am I man 
enough ! I claim to be of the class , mammalia ; order, 
primates ; genus , homo ! Such are my physical attributes ; of 
my moral properties let posterity speak ! it becomes me to be 
mute.” 

“ Physic may do for such as relish it ; to my taste and 
judgment it is neither palatable nor healthy ; but morals never 
did harm to any living mortal, be it that he was a sojourner in 
the forest, or a dweller in the midst of glazed windows and 
smoking chimneys. It is only a few hard words that divide us, 
friend; for I am of opinion, that with use and freedom we 
should come to understand one another, and mainly settle down 
into the same judgments of mankind, and of the ways of the 
world. Quiet, Hector, quiet ; what ruffles your temper, pup ; 
is it not used to the scent of human blood ?” 

The Doctor bestowed a gracious but commiserating smile on 
the philosopher of nature, as he retrograded a step or two from 
the place whither he had been impelled by his excess of spirit, 
in order to reply with less expenditure of breath, and with a 
greater freedom of air and attitude. 

“ A homo is certainly a homo,” he said, stretching forth an 
arm in an argumentative manner ; “ so far as the animal func- 
tions extend, there are the connecting links of harmony, order, 
conformity, and design, between the whole genus ; but there 
the resemblance ends. Man may be degraded to the very 
margin of the line which separates him from the brute, by 
ignorance ; or he may be elevated to a communion with the 
great Master-spirit of all, by knowledge ; nay, I know not, if 
time and opportunity were given him, but he might become the 


224 


THE PRAIRIE. 


master of all learning, and consequently equal to' the great 
moving principle.” 

The old man, who stood leaning on his rifle in a thoughtful 
attitude, shook his head as he answered with a native steadiness 
that entirely eclipsed the imposing air which his antagonist had 
seen fit to assume — 

“ This is neither more nor less than mortal wickedness ! 
Here have I been a dweller on the earth for fourscore and six 
changes of the seasons, and all that time have I look’d at the 
growing and the dying trees, and yet do I not know the reasons 
why the bud starts under the summer sun, or the leaf falls 
when it is pinch’d by the frosts. Your l’arning, though it is 
man’s boast, is folly in the eyes of Him who sits in the clouds, 
and looks down in sorrow at the pride and vanity of his crea- 
tur’s. Many is the hour that I’ve passed lying in the shades 
of the woods, or stretch’d upon the hills of these open fields, 
looking up into the blue skies, where I could fancy the Great 
One had taken his stand, and was solemnizing on the wayward- 
ness of man and brute below, as I myself had often look’d at 
the ants tumbling over each other in their eagerness, though in 
a way and a fashion more suited to His mightiness and power. 
Knowledge ! It is his plaything. Say, you who think it so easy 
to climb into the judgment-seat above, can you tell me anything 
of the beginning and the end ? Nay, you’re a dealer in ailings 
and cures : what is life, and what is death ? Why does the 
eagle live so long, and why is the time of the butterfly so short ? 
Tell me a simpler thing : why is this hound so uneasy, while 
you who have passed your days in looking into books can see 
no reason to be disturbed ?” 

The Doctor, who had been a little astounded by the dignity 
and energy of the old man, drew a long breath, like a sullen 
wrestler who is just released from the throttling grasp of his 
antagonist, and seized on the opportunity of the pauso to 
reply — 

“ It is his instinct.” 

“ And what is the gift of instinct ?” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


225 


“An inferior gradation of reason. A sort of mysterious 
combination of thought and matter.” 

“ And what is that which you call thought ?” 

“Venerable Venator, this is a method of reasoning which sets 
at naught the uses of definitions, and such as I do assure you is 
not at all tolerated in the schools.” 

“ Then is there more cunning in your schools than I had 
thought, for it is a certain method of showing them their vanity,” 
returned the trapper, suddenly abandoning a discussion from 
which the naturalist was just beginning to anticipate great 
delight, by turning to his dog, whose restlessness he attempted 
to appease by playing with his ears. “ This is foolish, Hector ; 
more like an untrained pup than a sensible hound ; one who 
has got his education by hard experience, and not by nosing 
over the trails of other dogs, as a boy in the settlements follows 
on the track of his masters, be it right or be it wrong. Well, 
friend ; you who can do so much, are you equal to looking into 
the thicket ; or must I go in myself ?” 

The Doctor again assumed his air of resolution, and without 
further parlance proceeded to do as desired. The dogs were so 
far restrained by the remonstrances of the old man as to confine 
their noise to low but often-repeated whinings. When they 
saw the naturalist advance, the pup, however, broke through all 
restraint and made a swift circuit around his person, scenting 
the earth as he proceeded, and then returning to his companion 
he howled aloud. 

“ The squatter and his brood have left a strong scent on the 
earth,” said the old man, watching as he spoke for some signal 
from his learned pioneer to follow ; “ I hope yonder school-bred 
man knows enough to remember the errand on which I have 
sent him.” 

Doctor Battius had already disappeared in the bushes, and 
the trapper was beginning to betray additional evidences of 
impatience when the person of the former was seen retiring from 
the thicket backwards, with his face fastened on the place he 

10 * 


226 


THE PRAIRIE. 


had just left, as if his look was bound in the thraldom of some 
charm. 

“ Here is something skeary, by the wildness of the creatur’s 
countenance !” exclaimed the old man, relinquishing his hold 
of Hector, and moving stoutly to the side of the totally uncon- 
scious naturalist. “ How is it, friend ; have you found a new 
leaf in your book of wisdom ?” 

“ It is a basilisk !” muttered the Doctor, whose altered visage 
betrayed the utter confusion which beset his faculties. “ An 
animal of the order , serpens. I had thought its attributes 
were fabulous, but mighty nature is equal to all that man can 
imagine !” 

“What is’t? what is’t? The snakes of the prairies are 
harmless, unless it be now and then an angered rattler, and 
he always gives you notice with his tail afore he works his 
mischief with his fangs. Lord, Lord, what a humbling thing is 
fear ! Here is one who in common delivers words too big for 
a humble mouth to hold, so much beside himself that his voice 
is as shrill as the whistle of the whip-poor-will ! Courage !— 
what is it, man ? — what is it ?” 

“ A prodigy ! a lusus naturae ! a monster that nature has 
delighted to form in order to exhibit her power ! Never before 
have I witnessed such an utter confusion in her laws, or a speci- 
men that so completely bids defiance to the distinctions of class 
and genera. Let me record its appearance,” fumbling for his 
tablets with hands that trembled too much to perform their 
office, “ while time and opportunity are allowed — eyes, enthral- 
ling ; color , various, complex, and profound ” 

“ One would think the man was craz’d with his enthralling 
looks and piebald colors !” interrupted the discontented trapper, 
who began to grow a little uneasy that his party was all this 
time neglecting to seek the protection of some cover. “ If there 
is a reptile in the brush, show me the creatur’, and should it 
refuse to depart peaceably, why there must be a quarrel for the 
possession of the place.” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


227 


“ There !” said the Doctor, pointing into a dense mass of the 
thicket, to a spot within fifty feet of that where they both stood. 
The trapper turned his look with perfect composure in the 
required direction, but the instant his practised glance met the 
object which had so utterly upset the philosophy of the natural- 
ist, he gave a start himself, threw his rifle rapidly forward, and 
as instantly recovered it, as if a second flash of thought 
convinced him he was wrong. Neither the instinctive move- 
ment nor the sudden recollection was without a sufficient object. 
At the very margin of the thicket and in absolute contact with 
the earth, lay an animate ball that might easily, by the singu- 
larity and fierceness of its aspect, have justified the disturbed 
condition of the naturalist’s mind. It were difficult to describe 
the shape or colors of this extraordinary substance, except to 
say in general terms, that it was nearly spherical, and exhibited 
all the hues of the rainbow, intermingled without reference to 
harmony, and without any very ostensible design. The predo- 
minant hues were a black and bright vermilion. With these, 
however, the several tints of white, yellow, and crimson, were 
strangely and wildly blended. Had this been all it would have 
been difficult to have pronounced that the object was possessed 
of life, for it lay motionless as any stone ; but a pair of dark, 
glaring, and moving eyeballs, which watched with jealousy 
the smallest movements of the trapper and his companion, 
sufficiently established the important fact of its possessing 
vitiality. 

“ Your reptile is a scouter, or I’m no judge of Indian paints 
and Indian deviltries !” muttered the old man, dropping the butt 
of his weapon to the ground, and gazing with a steady eye at 
the frightful object, as he leaned on its barrel, in an attitude of 
great composure. “ He wants to face us out of sight and 
reason, and make us think the head of a red-skin is a stone 
covered with the autumn leaf ; or he has some other devilish 
artifice in his mind !” 

“Is the animal human?” demanded the Doctor, “of the 
genus homo ? T had fancied it a nondescript.” 


228 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“It’s as human, and as mortal too, as a warrior of these 
prairies is ever known to be. I have seen the time when 
a red-skin would have shown a foolish daring to peep out of 
his ambushment in that fashion on a hunter I could name, but 
who is too old now, and too near his time, to be anything 
better than a miserable trapper. It will be well to speak to the 
imp, and to let him know he deals with men whose beards are 
grown. Come forth from your cover, friend,” he continued, in 
the language of the extensive tribes of the Dahcotahs ; “ there 
is room on the prairie for another warrior.” 

The eyes appeared to glare more fiercely than before ; but 
the mass which, according to the trapper’s opinion, was neither 
more nor less than a human head, shorn, as usual among the 
warriors of the west, of its hair, still continued without motion, 
or any other sign of life. 

“ It is a mistake !” exclaimed the Doctor. “ The animal is 
not even of the class , mammalia, much less a man.” 

“ So much for your knowledge !” returned the trapper, laugh- 
ing with great exultation. “ So much for the l’arning of one 
who has look’d into so many books, that his eyes are not 
able to tell a moose from a wild-cat ! Now my Hector, here, is 
a dog of education after his fashion, and, though the meanest 
primer in the settlements would puzzle his information, you 
could not cheat the hound in a matter like this. As you think 
the object no man, you shall see his whole formation, and then 
let an ignorant old trapper, who never willingly pass’d a day 
within reach of a spelling-book in his life, know by what name 
to call it. Mind, I mean no violence ; but just to start the devil 
from his ambushment.” 

The trapper very deliberately examined the priming of his 
rifle, taking care to make as great a parade as possible of his 
hostile intentions, in going through the necessary evolutions with 
the weapon. When he thought the stranger began to appre- 
hend some danger, he very deliberately presented the piece, and 
called aloud — 

“Now, friend, I am all for peace, or all for war, as you 


THE PRAIRIE. 


229 


may say. No! well it is no man, as the wiser one here 
says, and there can be no harm in just firing into a bunch of 
leaves.” 

The muzzle of the rifle fell as he concluded, and the weapon 
was gradually settling into a steady, and what would easily have 
proved a fatal aim, when a tall Indian sprang from beneath that 
bed of leaves and brush, which he had collected about his per- 
son at the approach of the party, and stood upright, uttering the 
exclamation — 

“ Waghl” 


280 


THE PRAIRIE. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

“My visor is Philemon’s roof; within the house is Jove.” 

Shakspeare. 

The trapper, who had meditated no violence, dropped his 
rifle again, and laughing at the success of his experiment, with 
great seeming self-complacency, he drew the astounded gaze of 
the naturalist from the person of the savage to himself, by say- 
ing— 

“ The imps will lie for hours, like sleeping alligators, brooding 
their deviltries in dreams and other craftiness, until such time as 
they see some real danger is at hand, and then they look to 
themselves the same as other mortals. But this is a scouter in 
his war-paint ! There should be more of his tribe at no great 
distance. Let us draw the truth out of him ; for an unlucky 
war-party may prove more dangerous to us than a visit from the 
whole family of the squatter.” 

“ It is truly a desperate and a dangerous species !” said the 
Doctor, relieving his amazement by a breath that seemed to 
exhaust his lungs of air ; “ a violent race, and one that it is dif- 
ficult to define or class, within the usual boundaries of defini- 
tions. Speak to him, therefore ; but let thy words be strong in 
amity.” 

The old man cast a keen eye on every side of him, to 
ascertain the important particular whether the stranger was 
supported by any associates, and then making the usual signs 
of peace, by exhibiting the palm of his naked hand, he boldly 
advanced. In the meantime, the Indian betrayed no evidence 
of uneasiness. He suffered the trapper to draw nigh, main- 
taining by his own mien and attitude a striking air of dignity 
and fearlessness. Perhaps the wary warrior also knew that 


THE PRAIRIE. 


231 


owing to the difference in their weapons, he should be placed 
more on an equality, by being brought nearer to the strangers. 

As a description of this individual may furnish some idea of 
the personal appearance of a whole race, it may be well to de- 
tain the narrative, in order to present it to the reader, in our 
hasty and imperfect manner. Would the truant eyes of Allston 
or Greenough turn, but for a time, from their gaze at the 
models of antiquity, to contemplate this wronged and humbled 
people, little would be left for such inferior artists as ourselves to 
delineate. 

The Indian in question was in every particular a warrior of 
fine stature and admirable proportions. As he cast aside his 
mask, composed of such particolored leaves as he had hurriedly 
collected, his countenance appeared in all the gravity, the 
dignity, and, it may be added, in the terror of his profession. 
The outlines of his lineaments were strikingly noble, and 
nearly approaching to Roman, though the secondary features of 
his face were slightly marked with the well known traces 
of his Asiatic origin. The peculiar tint of the skin, which in 
itself is so well designed to aid the effect of a martial expression, 
had received an additional aspect of wild ferocity from the 
colors of the war-paint. But, as if he disdained the usual 
artifices of his people, he bore none of those strange and horrid 
devices, with which the children of the forest are accustomed, 
like the more civilized heroes of the moustache, to back their 
reputation for courage, contenting himself with a broad and deep 
shadowing of black, that served as a sufficient and an admirable 
foil to the brighter gleamings of his native swarthiness. His 
head was, as usual, shaved to the crown, where a large and gal- 
lant scalp-lock seemed to challenge the grasp of his enemies. 
The ornaments that were ordinarily pendent from the cartilages 
of his ears had been removed, on account of his present pursuit. 
His body, notwithstanding the lateness of the season, was nearly 
naked, and the portion which was clad bore a vestment no warmer 
than a light robe of the finest dressed deer-skin, beautifully 
stained with the rude design of some daring exploit, and which 


232 


THE PRAIRIE. 


was carelessly worn, as if more in pride than from any unmanly 
regard to comfort. His leggings were of bright scarlet cloth, 
the only evidence about his person that he had held communion 
with the traders of the Pale-faces. But as if to furnish some 
offset to this solitary submission to a womanish vanity, they 
were fearfully fringed, from the gartered knee to the bottom of 
the moccasin, with the hair of human scalps. He leaned lightly 
with one hand on a short hickory bow, while the other rather 
touched than sought support, from the long, delicate handle of 
an ashen lance. A quiver made of the cougar skin, from which 
the tail of the animal depended, as a characteristic ornament, 
was slung at his back ; and a shield of hides, quaintly emblazon- 
ed with another of his warlike deeds, was suspended from his 
neck by a thong of sinews. 

As the trapper approached, this warrior maintained his 
calm upright attitude, discovering neither an eagerness to ascer- 
tain the character of those who advanced upon him, nor the 
smallest wish to avoid a scrutiny in his own person. An eye 
that was darker and more shining than that of the stag, was 
incessantly glancing, however, from one to another of the 
stranger party, seemingly never knowing rest for an instant. 

“ Is my brother far from his village ?” demanded the old 
man, in the Pawnee language, after examining the paint, and 
those other little signs by which a practised eye knows the tribe 
of the warrior he encounters in the American deserts, with the 
same readiness, and by the same sort of mysterious observation, 
as that by which the seaman knows the distant sail. 

“ It is further to the towns of the Big-knives,” was the laconic 
reply. 

“ Why is a Pawnee-Loup so far from the fork of his own 
river, without a horse to journey on, and in a spot empty as 
this ?” 

“ Can the women and children of a Pale-face live without the 
meat of the bison ? There was hunger in my lodge.” 

“ My brother is very young to be already the master of a 
lodge,” returned the trapper, looking steadily into the unmoved 


THE PRAIRIE. 


233 


countenance of the youthful warrior ; “ but I dare say he is 
brave, and that many a chief has offered him his daughters for 
wives. But he has been mistaken,” pointing to the arrow, 
which was dangling from the hand that held the bow, “ in 
bringing a loose and barbed arrow-head to kill the buffalo. Do 
the Pawnees wish the wounds they give their game to rankle r $” 

“ It is good to be ready for the Sioux. Though not in sight, 
a bush may hide him.” 

“ The man is a living proof of the truth of his words,” mut- 
tered the trapper in English, “and a close-jointed and gallant 
looking lad he is ; but far too young for a chief of any impor- 
tance. It is wise, however, to speak him fair, for a single arm 
thrown into either party, if we come to blows with the squatter 
and his brood, may turn the day. You see my children are 
weary,” he continued in the dialect of the prairies, pointing, as 
he spoke, to the rest of the party, who by this time were also 
approaching. “We wish to camp and eat. Does my brother 
claim this spot ?” 

“ The runners from the people on the Big-river tell us that 
your nation havo traded with the Tawney-faces who live beyond 
the salt-lake, and that the prairies are now the hunting grounds 
of the Big-knives !” 

“ It is true, as I hear also from the hunters and trappers on 
La Platte. Though it is with the Frenchers, and not with the 
men who claim to own the Mexicos, that my people have 
bargained.” 

“ And warriors are going up the Long-river to see that they 
have not been cheated in what they have bought ?” 

“ Ay, that is partly true, too, I fear ; and it will not be long 
before an accursed band of choppers and loggers will be follow- 
ing on their heels, to humble the wilderness which lies so broad 
and rich on the western banks of the Mississippi, and then the 
land will be a peopled desert, from the shores of the main sea to 
the foot of the Rocky Mountains ; filled with all the abomina- 
tions and craft of man, and stript of the comforts and loveliness 
it received from the hands of the Lord !” 


234 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ And where were the chiefs of the Pawnee-Loups when this 

bargain was made ?” suddenly demanded the youthful warrior, a 

look of startling fierceness gleaming, at the same instant, athwart 

his dark visage. “ Is a nation to be sold like the skin of a 
© 

beaver ?” 

“Right enough — right enough, and where were truth and 
honesty also ? But might is right, according to the fashions of 
the ’arth ; and what the strong choose to do, the weak 
must call justice. If the law of the Wahcondah was as much 
hearkened to, Pawnee, as the laws of the Long-knives, your 
right to the prairies would be as good as that of the greatest 
chief in the settlements to the house which covers his head.” 

“ The skin of the traveller is white,” said the young native, 
laying a finger impressively on the hard and wrinkled hand of 
the trapper. “ Does his heart say one thing and his tongue 
another ?” 

“ The Wahcondah of a white man has ears, and he shuts 
them to a lie. Look at my head ; it is like a frosted pine, and 
must soon be laid in the ground. Why then should I wish to 
meet the Great Spirit face to face, while his countenance is dark 
upon me.” 

The Pawnee gracefully threw his shield over one shoulder, 
and placing a hand on his chest, he bent his head, in deference 
to the grey locks exhibited by the trapper ; after which his eye 
became more steady, and his countenance less fierce. Still he 
maintained every appearance of a distrust and watchfulness that 
were rather tempered and subdued than forgotten. When this 
equivocal species of amity was established between the warrior 
of the prairies and the experienced old trapper, the latter 
proceeded to give his directions to Paul, concerning the arrange- 
ments of the contemplated halt. While Inez and Ellen were 
dismounting, and Middleton and the bee-hunter were attending 
to their comforts, the discourse was continued, sometimes in the 
language of the natives, but often, as Paul and the Doctor min- 
gled their opinions with the two principal speakers, in the 
English tongue. There was a keen and subtle trial of skill 


THE PRAIRIE. 


235 


between the Pawnee and the trapper, in which each endeavored 
to discover the objects of the other, without betraying his own 
interest in the investigation. As might be expected, when the 
struggle was between adversaries so equal, the result of the 
encounter answered the expectations of neither. The latter had 
put all the interrogatories his ingenuity and practice could 
suggest concerning the state of the tribe of the Loups, their 
crops, their store of provisions for the ensuing winter, and their 
relations with their different warlike neighbors, without extorting 
any answer, which in the slightest degree elucidated the cause 
of his finding a solitary warrior so far from his people. On the 
other hand, while the questions of the Indian were far more 
dignified and delicate, they were equally ingenious. He 
commented on the state of the trade in peltries, spoke of the 
good or ill success of many white hunters, whom he had either 
encountered or heard named, and even alluded to the steady 
march which the nation of his great father, as he cautiously 
termed the government of the States, was making towards the 
hunting-grounds of his tribe. It was apparent, however, by the 
singular mixture of interest, contempt, and indignation, that 
were occasionally gleaming through the reserved manner of this 
warrior, that he knew the strange people, who were thus 
trespassing on his native rights, much more by report than by 
any actual intercourse. This personal ignorance of the whites 
was as much betrayed by the manner in which he regarded the 
females, as by the brief but energetic expressions which occa- 
sionally escaped him. 

While speaking to the trapper he suffered his wandering 
glances to stray towards the intellectual and nearly infantile 
beauty of Inez, as one might be supposed to gaze upon the 
loveliness of an athereal being. It was very evident that he 
now saw, for the first time, one of those females, of whom the 
fathers of his tribe so often spoke, and who were considered of 
such rare excellence as to equal all that savage ingenuity could 
imagine in the way of loveliness. His observation of Ellen was 
less marked, but notwithstanding the warlike and chastened 


236 


THE PRAIRIE. 


expression of his eye, there was much of the homage which 
man is made to pay to woman, even in the more cursory look 
he sometimes turned on her maturer and perhaps more 
animated beauty. This admiration, however, was so tempered 
by his habits, and so smothered in the pride of a warrior, as 
completely to elude every eye but that of the trapper, who was 
too well skilled in Indian customs, and was too well instructed 
in the importance of rightly conceiving the character of the 
stranger, to let the smallest trait, or the most trifling of his 
movements, escape him. In the meantime, the unconscious 
Ellen herself moved about the feeble and less resolute Inez, with 
her accustomed assiduity and tenderness, exhibiting in her frank 
features those changing emotions of joy and regret which occa- 
sionally beset her, as her active mind dwelt on the decided step 
she had just taken, with the contending doubts and hopes, and 
possibly with some of the mental vacillation, that was natural 
to her situation and sex. 

Not so Paul ; conceiving himself to have obtained the two 
things dearest to his heart, the possession of Ellen and a triumph 
over the sons of Ishmael, he now enacted his part in the 
business of the moment, with as much coolness as though he 
was already leading his willing bride, from solemnizing their 
nuptials before a border magistrate, to the security of his own 
dwelling. He had hovered around the moving family, during 
the tedious period of their weary march, concealing himself by 
day, and seeking interviews with his betrothed as opportunities 
offered, in the manner already described, until fortune and his 
own intrepidity had united to render him successful, at the very 
moment when he was beginning to despair and he now cared 
neither for distance, nor violence, nor hardships. To his san- 
guine fancy and determined resolution all the rest was easily to 
be achieved. Such were his feelings, and such in truth they 
seemed to be. With his cap cast on one side, and whistling a 
low air, he thrashed among the bushes, in order to make a 
place suitable for the females to repose on, while, from time to 
time, he cast an approving glance at the agile form of Ellen, as 


THE PRAIRIE. 


237 


she tripped past him, engaged in her own share of the 
duty. 

“And so the Wolf-tribe of the Pawnees have buried the 
hatchet with their neighbors the Konzas ?” said the trapper, 
pursuing a discourse which he had scarcely permitted to flag, 
though it had been occasionally interrupted by the different 
directions with which he occasionally saw fit to interrupt it. 
(The reader will remember that, while he spoke to the native 
warrior in his own tongue, he necessarily addressed his white 
companions in English.) “ The Loups and the light-fac’d Red- 
skins are again friends. Doctor, that is a tribe of which I’ll 
engage you’ve often read, and of which many a round lie has 
been whispered in the ears of the ignorant people who live in 
the settlements. There was a story of a nation of Welshers, 
that liv’d her away in the prairies, and how they came into the 
land afore the uneasy minded man who first let in the Christians 
to rob the heathens of their inheritance, had ever dreamt that 
the sun set on a country as big as that it rose from. And how 
they knew the white ways and spoke with white tongues, and 
a thousand other follies and idle conceits.” 

“ Have I not heard of them ?” exclaimed the naturalist, 
dropping a piece of jerked bison’s meat, which he was rather 
roughly discussing, at the moment. “I should be greatly 
ignorant not to have often dwelt with delight on so beautiful 
a theory, and one which so triumphantly establishes two posi- 
tions, which I have often maintained are unanswerable, even 
without such living testimony in their favor — viz. that this 
continent can claim a more remote affinity with civilization than 
the time of Columbus, and that color is the fruit of climate and 
condition, and not a regulation of nature. Propound the latter 
question to this Indian gentleman, venerable hunter ; he is of 
a reddish tint himself, and his opinion may be said to make 
us masters of the two sides of the disputed point.” 

“ Do you think a Pawnee is a reader of books, and a believer 
of printed lies, like the idlers in the towns ?” retorted the old 
man laughing. “ But it may be as well to humor the likings 


238 


THE PRAIRIE. 


of the man, which, after all, it is quite possible, are neither more 
nor less than his natural gift, and therefore to be followed, 
although they may be pitied. What does my brother think ? 
all whom he sees here have pale skins, but the Pawnee warriors 
are red ; does he believe that man changes with the season, and 
that the son is not like his father ?” 

The young warrior regarded his interrogator for a moment 
with a steady and deliberating eye ; then raising his finger 
upwards, he answered with dignity — 

“ The Wahcondah pours the rain from his clouds ; when he 
speaks, he shakes the hills ; and the fire, which scorches the trees, 
is the anger of his eye ; but he fashioned his children with care 
and thought. What he has thus made, never alters !” 

“ Ay, ’tis in the reason of natur’ that it should be so, Doctor,” 
continued the trapper, when he had interpreted this answer to 
the disappointed naturalist. “ The Pawnees are a wise and a 
great people, and I’ll engage they abound in many a wholesome 
and honest tradition. The hunters and trappers that I some- 
times see, speak of a great warrior of your race.” 

“ My tribe are not women. A brave is no stranger in my 
village.” 

“Ay; but he they speak of most is a chief far beyond the 
renown of common -warriors, and one that might have done 
credit to that once mighty but now fallen people, the Delawares 
of the hills.” 

“ Such a warrior should have a name ?” 

“ They call him Hard-Heart, from the stoutness of his reso- 
lution ; and well is he named, if all I have heard of his deeds be 
true.” 

The stranger cast a glance which seemed to read the guileless 
soul of the old man, as he demanded— 

“ Has the Pale-face seen the partisan of my people ?” 

“Never. It is not with me now as it used to be some forty 
years ago, when warfare and bloodshed were my calling and mv 
gifts !” 

A loud shout from the reckless Paul interrupted his speech, 


THE PRAIRIE. 


239 


and at the next moment the bee-hunter appeared, leading an 
Indian war-horse from the side of the thicket opposite to the 
one occupied by the party. 

“ Here is a beast for a Redskin to straddle !” he cried, as he 
made the animal go through some of its wild paces. “ There’s 
not a brigadier in all Kentucky that can call himself master of 
so sleek and well-jointed a nag ! A Spanish saddle, too, like a 
grandee of the Mexicos ! and look at the mane and tail braided 
and plaited down with little silver balls, as if it were Ellen her- 
self getting her shining hair ready for a dance or a husking frolic ! 
Isn’t this a real trotter, old trapper, to eat out of the manger of 
a savage ?” 

“ Softly, lad, softly. The Loups are famous for their horses, 
and it is often that you see a warrior on the prairies far better 
mounted than a congress-man in the settlements. But this, 
indeed, is a beast that none but a powerful chief should ride 1 
The saddle, as you rightly think, has been sat upon in its day 
by a great Spanish captain, who has lost it and his life together 
in some of the battles which this people often fight against the 
southern provinces. I warrant me, I warrant me the youngster 
is the son of a great chief ; may be of the mighty Hard-Heart 
himself !” 

During this rude interruption to the discourse the young 
Pawnee manifested neither impatience nor displeasure; but 
when he thought his beast had been the subject of sufficient 
comment, he very coolly, and with the air of one accustomed to 
have his will respected, relieved Paul of the bridle, and throwing 
the reins on the neck of the animal, he sprang upon his back 
with the activity of a professor of the equestrian art. Nothing 
could be finer or firmer than the seat of the savage. The highly 
wrought and cumbrous saddle was evidently more for show than 
use. Indeed it impeded rather than aided the action of limbs 
which disdained to seek assistance or admit of restraint from so 
womanish inventions as stirrups. The horse, which immediately 
began to prance, was, like its rider, wild and untutored in all its 
motions, but while there was so little of art there was all the 


240 


THE PRAIRIE. 


freedom and grace of nature in the movements of both. The 
animal was probably indebted to the blood of Araby for its 
excellence, through a long pedigree that embraced the steed of 
Mexico, the Spanish barb, and the Moorish charger. The rider, 
in obtaining his steed from the provinces of Central America, 
had also obtained that spirit and grace in controlling him which 
unite to form the most intrepid and perhaps the most skilful 
horseman in the world. 

Notwithstanding this sudden occupation of his animal, the 
Pawnee discovered no hasty wish to depart. More at his ease, 
and possibly more independent, now he found himself secure of 
the means of retreat, he rode back and forth, eyeing the different 
individuals of the party with far greater freedom than before. 
But, at each extremity of his ride, just as the sagacious trapper 
expected to see him profit by his advantage and fly, he would 
turn his horse and pass over the same ground, sometimes with 
the rapidity of the flying deer, and at others more slowly and 
with greater dignity of mien and attitude. Anxious to ascertain 
such facts as might have an influence on his future movements, 
the old man determined to invite him to a renewal of their 
conference. He therefore made a gesture expressive at the same 
time of his wish to resume the interrupted discourse, and of his 
own pacific intentions. The quick eye of the stranger was not 
slow to note the action, but it was not until a sufficient time 
had passed to allow him to debate the prudence of the measure 
in his own mind, that he seemed willing to trust himself again 
so near a party that was so much superior to himself in physical 
power, and consequently one that was able at any instant to 
command his life, or control his personal liberty. When he did 
approach nigh enough to converse with facility, it was with a 
singular mixture of haughtiness and of distrust. 

“ It is far to the village of the Loups,” he said, stretching his 
arm in a direction contrary to that in which the trapper well 
knew the tribe dwelt, “ and the road is crooked. What has the 
Big-knife to say ?” 

“Ay, crooked enough!” muttered the old man in English, 


THE PRAIRIE. 


241 


“ if you are to set out on your journey by that path, but not 
half so winding as the cunning of an Indian’s mind. Say, my 
brother, do the chiefs of the Pawnees love to see strange faces 
in their lodges ?” 

The young warrior bent his body gracefully, though but 
slightly, over the saddle-bow, as he replied — 

“When have my people forgotten to give food to the 
stranger ?” 

“ If I lead my daughters to the doors of the Loups, will the 
women take them by the hand ; and will the warriors smoke 
with my young men ?” 

“ The country of the Pale-faces is behind them. Why do 
they journey so far towards the setting sun ? Have they lost 
the path, or are these the women of the white warriors that I 
hear are wading up the river of ‘ the troubled waters V ” 

“Neither. They who wade the Missouri are the warriors of 
my great father, who has sent them on his message ; but we 
are peace-runners. The white men and the red are neighbors, 
and they wish to be friends. — Do not the Omahaws visit the 
Loups when the tomahawk is buried in the path between the 
two nations f” 

“ The Omahaws are welcome.” 

“ And the Yanktons, and the burnt- wood Tetons, who live in 
the elbow of the river 1 with muddy water do they not come 
into the lodges of the Loups and smoke ?” 

“ The Tetons are liars !” exclaimed the other. “ They dare 
not shut their eyes in the night. No ; they sleep in the sun. 
See,” he added, pointing with fierce triumph to the frightful 
ornaments of his leggings, “ their scalps are so plenty that the 
Pawnees tread on them ! Go ; let a Sioux live in banks of 
snow ; the plains and buffaloes are for men !” 

“ Ah ! the secret is out,” said the trapper to Middleton, who 
was an attentive because a deeply interested observer of what 
was passing. “This good-looking young Indian is scouting on 
the track of the Siouxes — you may see it by his arrow-heads 
and his paint ; ay, and by his eye, too ; for a Red-skin lets his 

11 


242 


THE PRAIRIE. 


natur’ follow the business he is on, be it for peace or be it for 
war, — quiet, Hector, quiet. Have you never scented a Pawnee 
afore, pup ? — keep down, dog — keep down — my brother is right. 
The Siouxes are thieves. Men of all colors and nations say it 
of them, and say it truly. But the people from the rising 
sun are not Siouxes, and they wish to visit the lodges of the 
Loups.” 

“ The head of my brother is white,” returned the Pawnee, 
throwing one of those glances at the trapper which were so 
remarkably expressive of distrust, intelligence, and pride; and 
then pointing, as he continued, towards the eastern horizon, 
“ and his eyes have looked on many things — can he tell me the 
name of what he sees yonder — is it a buffalo ?” 

“ It looks more like a cloud peeping above the skirt of the 
plain with the sunshine lighting its edges. It is the smoke of 
the heavens.” 

“ It is a hill of the earth, and on its top are the lodges of 
Pale-faces ! Let the women of my brother wash their feet 
among the people of their own color.” 

“ The eyes of a Pawnee are good if he can see a white-skin so 
far.” 

The Indian turned slowly towards the speaker, and after a 
pause of a moment he sternly demanded — 

“ Can my brother hunt ?” 

“ Alas ! I claim to be no better than a miserable trapper 1” 

“When the plain is covered with the buffaloes, can he see 
them ? ” 

“ Ho doubt, no doubt — it is far easier to see than to take a 
scampering bull.” 

“ And when the birds are flying from the cold, and the clouds 
are black with their feathers, can he see them too ?” 

“ Ay, ay, it is not hard to find a duck or a goose when 
millions are darkening the heavens.” 

“ When the snow falls and covers the lodges of the Long- 
knives, can the stranger see flakes in the air ?” 

“ My eyes are none of the best now,” returned the old man 


THE FRAIRIE. 


248 


a little resentfully, “ but the time lias been when I had a name 
for my sight !” 

“ The Red-skins find the Big-knives as easily as the strangers 
see the buffalo, or the travelling birds, or the falling snow. 
Your warriors think the Master of Life has made the whole 
earth white. They are mistake*}. They are pale, and it is 
their own faces that they see. Go ! a Pawnee is not blind that 
he need look long for your people !” 

The warrior suddenly paused and bent his face aside, like 
one who listened with all his faculties absorbed in the act. 
Then turning the head of his horse, he rode to the nearest angle 
of the thicket, and looked intently across the bleak prairie, in a 
direction opposite to the side on which the party stood. Return- 
ing slowly from this unaccountable, and to his observers, 
startling procedure, he riveted his eyes on Inez, and paced back 
and forth several times with the air of one who maintained a 
warm struggle on some difficult point in the recesses of his own 
thoughts. He had drawn the reins of his impatient steed and 
was seemingly about to speak, when his head again sank on his 
chest, and he resumed his former attitude of attention. Gallop- 
ing like a deer to the place of his former observations, he rode 
for a moment swiftly in short and rapid circles, as if still uncer- 
tain of his course, and then darted away like a bird that had 
been fluttering around its nest before it takes a distant flight. 
After scouring the plain for a minute he was lost to the eye 
behind a swell of the land. 

The hounds, who had also manifested great uneasiness for 
some time, followed him for a little distance, and then terminated 
their chase by seating themselves on the ground and raising 
their usual low, whining, and warning howls. 


244 


THE PRAIRIE. 


CHAPTER XIX. 

“ How if he will not stand V* 

Shakspe/re. 

The several movements related in the close of the preceding 
chapter had passed in so short a space of time, that the old 
man, while he neglected not to note the smallest incident, had 
no opportunity of expressing his opinion concerning the stran- 
ger’s motives. After the Pawnee had disappeared, however, he 
shook his head and muttered, while he walked slowly to the 
angle of the thicket that the Indian had just quitted — 

“ There are both scents and sounds in the air, though my 
miserable senses are not good enough to hear the one or to catch 
the taint of the other.” 

“There is nothing to be seen,” cried Middleton, who kept 
close at his side. “ My eyes and my ears are good, and yet I 
can assure you that I neither hear nor see anything.” 

“ Your eyes are good ! and you are not deaf !” returned the 
other, with a slight air of contempt ; “ no, lad, no ; they may 
be good to see across a church, or to hear a town-bell, but afore 
you had passed a year in these prairies you would find yourself 
taking a turkey for a buffalo, or conceiting fifty times that the 
roar of a buffalo bull was the thunder of the Lord ! There is a 
deception of natur’ in these naked plains in which the air throws 
up the images like water, and then it is hard to tell the prairies 
from a sea. But yonder is a sign that a hunter never fails to 
know !” 

The trapper pointed to a flight of vultures that were sailing 
over the plain at no great distance, and apparently in the 
direction in which the Pawnee had riveted his eyes. At first 
Middleton could not distinguish the small dark objects that were 
dotting the dusky clouds ; but as they came swiftly onward, first 


THE PRAIRIE. 


245 


their forms and then their heavy waving wings became distinctly 
visible. 

“ Listen,” said the trapper, when he had succeeded in making 
Middleton see the moving column of birds. “ Now you hear 
the buffaloes, or bisons, as your knowing Doctor sees fit to call 
them, though buffaloes is their name among all the hunters of 
these regions. And I conclude that a hunter is a better judge 
of a beast and of its name,” he added, winking to the young 
soldier, “ than any man who has turned over the leaves of a 
book instead of travelling over the face of the ’arth, in order to 
find out the natur’s of its inhabitants.” 

“ Of their habits, I will grant you,” cried the naturalist, who 
rarely missed an opportunity to agitate any disputed point in 
his favorite studies. “ That is, provided always deference is had 
to the proper use of definitions, and that they are contemplated 
with scientific eyes.” 

“ Eyes of a mole ! as if any man’s eyes were not as good for 
names as the eyes of any other creatur’ ! Who named the 
works of His hand ? can you tell me that with your books and 
college wisdom? Was it not the first man in the Garden, and 
is it not a plain consequence that his children inherit his gifts ?” 

“ That is certainly the Mosaic account of the event,” said the 
Doctor ; “ though your reading is by far too literal !” 

“ My reading ! nay, if you suppose that I have wasted my 
time in schools, you do such a wrong to my knowledge as one 
mortal should never lay to the door of another without sufficient 
reason. If I have ever craved the art of reading, it has been 
that I might better know the sayings of the book you name, 
for it is a book which speaks in every line according to human 
feelings, and therein according to reason.” 

“ And do you then believe,” said the Doctor, a little provoked 
by the dogmatism of his stubborn adversary, and perhaps 
secretly too confident in his own more liberal, though scarcely 
as profitable attainments, — “ do you then believe that all these 
beasts were literally collected in a garden to be enrolled in the 
nomenclature of the first man ?” 


246 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ Why not ? I understand your meaning ; for it is not need- 
ful to live in towns to hear all the devilish devices that the 
conceit of man can invent to upset his own happiness. What 
does it prove, except indeed it may be said to prove that the 
garden He made was not after the miserable fashions of our 
times, thereby directly giving the lie to what the world calls 
its civilizing ? No, no, the garden of the Lord was the forest 
then, and is the forest now, where the fruits do grow and the 
birds do sing, according to his own wise ordering. Now, lady, 
you may see the mystery of the vultures ! There come the 
buffaloes themselves, and a noble herd it is ! I warrant me that 
Pawnee has a troop of his people in some of the hollows nigh 
by ; and as he has gone scampering after them you are about 
to see a glorious chase. It will serve to keep the squatter and 
his brood under cover, and for ourselves there is little reason to 
fear. A Pawnee is not apt to be a malicious savage.” 

Every eye was now drawn to the striking spectacle that 
succeeded. Even the timid Inez hastened to the side of Mid- 
dleton to gaze at the sight, and Paul summoned Ellen from her 
culinary labors to become a witness of the lively scene. 

Throughout the whole of those moving events which it has 
been our duty to record, the prairies had lain in the majesty of 
perfect solitude. The heavens had been blackened with the 
passage of the migratory birds, it is true ; but the dogs of the 
party and the ass of the Doctor were the only quadrupeds that 
had enlivened the broad surface of the waste beneath. There 
was now a sudden exhibition of animal life which changed the 
scene as it were by magic, to the very opposite extreme. 

A few enormous bison bulls were first observed, scouring 
along the most distant roll of the prairie, and then succeeded 
long files of single beasts, which, in their turns, were followed by 
a dark mass of bodies, until the dun-colored herbage of the plain 
was entirely lost, in the deeper hue of their shaggy coats. The 
herd, as the column spread and thickened, was like the endless 
flocks of the smaller birds, whose extended flanks are so often 
seen to heave up out of the abyss of the heavens, until they 


THE PRAIRIE. 


247 


appear as countless as the leaves in those forests, over which 
they wing their endless flight. Clouds of dust shot up in little 
columns from the centre of the mass, as some animal, more 
furious than the rest, ploughed the plain with his horns, and, 
from time to time, a deep hollow bellowing was borne along on 
the wind, as if a thousand throats vented their plaints in a discor- 
dant murmuring. 

© 

A long and musing silence reigned in the party, as they gazed 
on this spectacle of wild and peculiar grandeur. It was at length 
broken by the trapper, who, having been long accustomed to 
similar sights, felt less of its influence, or, rather, felt it in a less 
thrilling and absorbing manner, than those to whom the scene 
was more novel. 

“ There go ten thousand oxen in one drove, without keeper 
or master, except Him who made them, and gave them these 
open plains for their pasture ! Ay, it is here that man may see 
the proofs of his wantonness and folly ! Can the proudest 
governor in all the States go into his fields, and slaughter a 
nobler bullock than is here offered to the meanest hand ; and 
when he has gotten his sirloin or his steak, can he eat it with 
as good a relish as he who has sweetened his food with whole- 
some toil, and earned it according to the Jaw of natur’, by 
honestly mastering that which the Lord hath put before him ?” 

“If the prairie platter is smoking with a buffalo’s hump, I 
answer, No,” interrupted the luxurious bee-hunter. 

“ Ay, boy, you have tasted, and you feel the genuine reasoning 
of the thing ! But the herd is heading a little this-a-way, and 
it behoves us to make ready for their visit. If we hide ourselves 
altogether, the horned brutes will break through the place and 
trample us beneath their feet, like so many creeping worms ; so 
we will just put the weak ones apart, and take post, as becomes 
men and hunters, in the van.” 

As there was but little time to make the necessary arrange- 
ments, the whole party set about them in good earnest. Inez 
and Ellen were placed in the edge of the thicket on the side 
furthest from the approaching herd. Asinus was posted in the 


248 


THE PRAIRIE . 


centre, in consideration of his nerves ; and then the old man, 
with his three male companions, divided themselves in such a 
manner as they thought would enable them to turn the head 
of the rushing column, should it chance to approach too 
nigh their position. By the vacillating movements of some fifty 
or a hundred bulls that led the advance, it remained questiona- 
ble, for many moments, what course they intended to pursue. 
But a tremendous and painful roar, which came from behind 
the cloud of dust that rose in the centre of the herd, and which 
was horridly answered by the screams of the carrion birds that 
were greedily sailing directly above the flying drove, appeared to 
give a new impulse to their flight, and at once to remove every 
symptom of indecision. As if glad to seek the smallest signs of 
the forest, the whole of the affrighted herd became steady in its 
direction, rushing in a straight line towards the little cover of 
bushes which has already been so often named. 

The appearance of danger was now, in reality, of a character 
to try the stoutest nerves. The flanks of the dark, moving mass, 
were advanced in such a manner as to make a concave line of 
the front, and every fierce eye, that was glaring from the shaggy 
wilderness of hair in which the entire heads of the males were 
enveloped, was riveted with mad anxiety on the thicket. It 
seemed as if each beast strove to outstrip his neighbor, in gaining 
this desired cover ; and as thousands in the rear pressed blindly 
on those in front, there was the appearance of an imminent risk 
that the leaders of the herd would be precipitated on the con- 
cealed party, in which case the destruction of every one of them 
was certain. Each of our adventurers felt the danger of his 
situation, in a manner peculiar to his individual character and 
circumstances. 

Middleton wavered. At times he felt inclined to rush 
through the bushes, and, seizing Inez, attempt to fly. Then 
recollecting the impossibility of outstripping the furious speed 
of an alarmed bison, he felt for his arms, determined to make 
head against the countless drove. The faculties of Dr. Battius 
were quickly wrought up to the very summit of mental delu- 


THE PRAIRIE. 


249 


sion. The dark forms of the herd lost their distinctness, and 
then the naturalist began to fancy he beheld a wild collection of 
all the creatures of the world, rushing upon him in a body, as 
if to revenge the various injuries, which, in the course of a life 
of indefatigable labor in behalf of the natural sciences, he had 
inflicted on their several genera. The paralysis it occasioned in 
his system was like the effect of the incubus. Equally unable 
to fly or to advance, he stood riveted to the spot, until the infa- 
tuation became so complete, that the worthy naturalist was 
beginning, by a desperate effort of scientific resolution, even to 
class the different specimens. On the other hand, Paul shouted 
and called on Ellen to come and assist him in shouting, but his 
voice was lost in the bellowings and trampling of the herd. 
Furious, and yet strangely excited by the obstinacy of the brutes 
and the wildness of the sight, and nearly maddened by 
sympathy and a species of unconscious apprehension, in which 
the claims of nature were singularly mingled with concern for 
his mistress, ho nearly split his throat in exhorting his aged 
friend to interfere. 

“ Come forth, old trapper,” he shouted, “ with your prairie 
inventions ! or we shall be all smothered under a mountain of 
buffalo humps !” 

The old man, who had stood all this while leaning on his 
rifle, and regarding the movements of the herd with a steady 
eye, now deemed it time to strike his blow. Levelling his piece 
at the foremost bull, with an agility that would have done 
credit to his youth, he fired. The animal received the bullet on 
the matted hair between his horns, and fell to his knees : but 
shaking his head he instantly arose, the very shock seeming to 
increase his exertions. There was now no longer time to hesi- 
tate. Throwipg down his rifle, the trapper stretched forth his 
arms, and advanced from the cover with naked hands, directly 
towards the rushing column of the beasts. 

The figure of a man, when sustained by the firmness and stea- 
diness that intellect can only impart, rarely fails of commanding 
respect from all the inferior animals of the creation. The lead- 

11 * 


250 


THE PRAIRIE. 


ing bulls recoiled, and for a single instant there was a sudden 
stop to their speed, a dense mass of bodies rolling up in front, 
until hundreds were seen floundering and tumbling on the 
plain. Then came another of those hollow bellowings from the 
rear, and set the herd again in motion. The head of the 
column, however, divided ; the immovable form of the trap- 
per cutting it, as it were, into two gliding streams of life. 
Middleton and Paul instantly profited by his example, and 
extended the feeble barrier by a similar exhibition of their own 
persons. 

For a few moments, the new impulse given to the animals in 
front served to protect the thicket. But, as the body of the 
herd pressed more and more upon the open line of its defenders, 
and the dust thickened, so as to obscure their persons, there 
was, at each instant, a renewed danger of the beasts breaking 
through. It became necessary for the trapper and his compa- 
nions to become still more and more alert; and they were 
gradually yielding before the headlong multitude, when a furious 
bull darted by Middleton so near as to brush his person, and, at 
the next instant, swept through the thicket with the velocity of 
the wind. 

“ Close, and die for the ground,” shouted the old man, “ or a 
thousand of the devils will be at his heels !” 

All their efforts would have proved fruitless, however, against 
the living torrent, had not Asinus, whose domains had just been 
so rudely entered, lifted his voice in the midst of the uproar. 
The most sturdy and furious of the bulls trembled at the alarm- 
ing and unknown cry, and then each individual brute was seen 
madly pressing from that very thicket, which the moment before 
he had endeavored to reach, with the eagerness with which the 
murderer seeks the sanctuary. 

As the stream divided, the place became clear ; the two dark 
columns moving obliquely from the copse, to unite again at the 
distance of a mile, on its opposite side. The instant the old 
man saw the sudden effect which the voice of Asinus had 
produced, he coolly commenced reloading his rifle, indulging at 


THE PRAIRIE. 


251 


the same time in a heartfelt fit of his silent and peculiar merri- 
ment. 

“There they go, like dogs with so many half-filled shot- 
pouches dangling at their tails, and no fear of their breaking 
their order ; for what the brutes in the rear didn’t hear with their 
own ears, they’ll conceit they did : besides, if they change their 
minds, it may be no hard matter to get the Jack to sing the rest 
of his tune !” 

“ The ass has spoken, but Balaam is silent !” cried the 
bee-hunter, catching his breath after a repeated burst of noisy 
mirth, that might possibly have added to the panic of the 
buffaloes by its vociferation. “ The man is as completely dumb- 
foundered, as if a swarm of young bees had settled on the end 
of his tongue, and he not willing to speak, for fear of their 
answer.” 

“How now, friend,” continued the trapper, addressing the 
still motionless and entranced naturalist ; “ how now, friend ; 
are you, who make your livelihood by booking the names 
and natur’s of the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, 
frightened at a herd of scampering buffaloes? Though, per- 
haps, you are ready to dispute my right to call them by a 
word that is in the mouth of every hun ter and trader on the 
frontier !” 

The old man was however mistaken, in supposing he could 
excite the benumbed faculties of the Doctor, by provoking a dis- 
cussion. From that time, henceforth, he was never known, ex- 
cept on one occasion, to utter a word that indicated either the 
species, or the genus, of the animal. He obstinately refused the 
nutritious food of the whole ox family ; and even to the present 
hour, now that he is established in all the scientific dignity and 
security of a savant in one of the maritime towns, he turns his 
back with a shudder on those delicious and unrivalled viands, 
that are so often seen at the suppers of the craft, and which are 
unequalled by anything that is served under the same name, at 
the boasted chop-houses of London, or at the most renowned of 
the Parisian restaurants . In short, the distaste of the worthy 


252 


THE PRAIRIE . 


naturalist for beef was notunlike that which the shepherd some 
times produces, by first muzzling and fettering his delinquent 
dog, and then leaving him as a stepping-stone for the whole 
flock to use in its transit over a wall, or through the opening of 
a sheep-fold ; a process which is said to produce in the culprit a 
species of surfeit, on the subject of mutton, for ever after. By 
the time Paul and the trapper saw fit to terminate the fresh 
bursts of merriment which the continued abstraction of their 
learned companion did not fail to excite, he commenced 
breathing again, as if the suspended action of his lungs had 
been renewed by the application of a pair of artificial bellows, 
and was heard to make use of the ever afterwards proscribed 
terra, on that solitary occasion to which we have just alluded. 

“ Boves Americani horridi !” exclaimed the Doctor, laying 
great stress on the latter word ; after which he -continued 
mute, like one who pondered on strange and unaccountable 
events. 

“ Ay, horrid eyes enough, I will willingly allow,” returned the 
trapper ; “ and altogether the creatur’ has a frightful look, to one 
unused to the sights and bustle of a natural life ; but then the 
courage of the beast is in no way equal to its countenance. 
Lord, man, if you should once get fairly beset by a brood of 
grizzly bears, as happened to Hector and I, at the great falls of 

the Miss Ah, here comes the tail of the herd, and yonder 

goes a pack of hungry wolves, ready to pick up the sick, 
or such as get a disjointed neck by a tumble. Ha ! there 
are mounted men on their trail, or I’m no sinner ! here, lad ; 
you may see them here-away, just where the dust is scattering 
afore the wind. They are hovering around a wounded buffalo, 
making an end of the surly devil with their arrows I” 

Middleton and Paul soon caught a glimpse of the dark group 
that the quick eye of the old man had so readily detected. 
Some fifteen or twenty horsemen were, in truth, to be seen 
riding, in quick circuits, about a noble bull which stood at bay, 
too grievously hurt to fly, and yet seeming to disdain to fall, 
notwithstanding his hardy body had already been the target 


THE PRAIRIE. 


253 


for a hundred arrows. A thrust from the lance of a powerful 
Indian, however, completed his conquest, and the brute gave 
up his obstinate hold of life with a roar that passed bellowing 
over the place where our adventurers stood, and reaching the 
ears of the affrighted herd, added a new impulse to their flight. 

“ How well the Pawnee knew the philosophy of a buffalo 
hunt !” said the old man, after he had stood regarding the ani- 
mated scene for a few moments with evident satisfaction. “ You 
saw how he went off like the wind before the drove. It was in 
order that he might not taint the air, and that he might turn 
the flank and join — Ha ! how is this ! yonder Red-skins are no 
Pawnees ! The feathers in their heads are from the wings and 
tails of owls. — Ah ! as I am but a miserable half-sighted trap- 
per, it is a band of the accursed Siouxes ! To cover, lads, to 
cover. A single cast of an eye this-a-way would strip us of 
every rag of clothes, as surely as the lightning scorches the 
bush, and it might be that our very lives would be far from 
safe.” 

Middleton had already turned from the spectacle to seek that 
which pleased him better — the sight of his young and beautiful 
bride. Paul seized the Doctor by the arm ; and, as the trapper 
followed with the smallest possible delay, the whole party was 
quickly collected within the cover of the thicket. After a few 
short explanations concerning the character of this new danger, 
the old man, on whom the whole duty of directing their move- 
ments was devolved in deference to his great experience, con- 
tinued his discourse as follows — 

“ This is a region, as you must all know, where a strong arm 
is far better than the right, and where the white law is as little 
known as needed. Therefore does everything now depend on 
judgment and power. If,” he continued, laying his finger on 
his cheek like one who considered deeply all sides of the embar- 
rassing situation in which he found himself, — “if an invention 
could be framed which would set these Siouxes and the brood 
of the squatter by the ears, then might we come in, like the 
buzzards after a fight atween the beasts, and pick up the glean- 


264 


THE PRAIRIE. 


mgs of the ground — there are Pawnees nigh us, too ! It is a 
certain matter, for yonder lad is not so far from his village 
without an errand. Here are therefore four parties within sound 
of a cannon, not one of whom can trust the other. All which 
makes movement a little difficult in a district where covers are 
far from plenty. But we are three well-armed, and I think I 
may see three stout-hearted men ” 

“ Four,” interrupted Paul. 

“ Anan,” said the old man, looking up simply at his com- 
panion. 

“ Four,” repeated the bee-hunter, pointing to the naturalist. 

“Every army has its hangers-on and idlers,” rejoined the 
blunt border-man. “ Friend, it will be necessary to slaughter 
this ass.” 

“ To slay Asinus ! such a deed would be an act of superero- 
gatory cruelty.” 

“ I know nothing of your words, which hide their meaning 
in sound ; but that is cruel which sacrifices a Christian to a 
brute. This is what I call the reason of mercy. It would be 
just as safe to blow a trumpet as to let the animal raise his 
voice again, inasmuch as it would prove a manifest challenge to 
the Siouxes.” 

“I will answer for the discretion of Asinus, who seldom 
speaks without a reason.” 

“ They say a man can be known by the company he keeps,” 
retorted the old man, “ and why not a brute ? I once made a 
forced march and went through a great deal of jeopardy with a 
companion who never opened his mouth but to sing ; and 
trouble enough and great concern of mind did the fellow give 
me. It was in that very business with your grand’ther, captain. 
But then he had a human throat, and well did he know how to 
use it, on occasion, though he didn’t always stop to regard the 
time and seasons fit for such outcries. Ah’s me ! if I was now 
as I was then, it wouldn’t be a band of thieving Siouxes that 
should easily drive me from such a lodgment as this ! But 
what signifies boasting when sight and strength are both failing 


THE PRAIRIE. 


255 


The warrior that the Delawares once saw fit to call after the 
hawk for the goodness of his eyes, would now be better termed 
the Mole ! In my judgment, therefore, it will be well to slay 
the brute.” 

“ There’s argument and good logic in it,” said Paul ; “ music 
is music, and it’s always noisy, whether it comes from a fiddle 
or a jackass. Therefore I agree with the old man, and say, Kill 
the beast.” 

“ Friends,” said the naturalist, looking with a sorrowful eye 
from one to another of his bloodily disposed companions, “ slay 
not Asinus ; he is a specimen of his kind of whom much good 
and little evil can be said. Hardy and docile for his genus ; 
abstemious and patient even for his humble species. We have 
journeyed much together, and his death would grieve me. How 
would it trouble thy spirit, venerable Venator, to separate in such 
an untimely manner from your faithful hound ?” 

“ The animal shall not die,” said the old man, suddenly clear- 
ing his throat in a manner that proved he felt the force of the 
appeal ; “ but his voice must be smothered. Bind his jaws 
with the halter, and then I think we may trust the rest to Pro- 
vidence.” 

With this double security for the discretion of Asinus, for Paul 
instantly bound the muzzle of the ass in the manner required, 
the trapper seemed content. After which he proceeded to the 
margin of the thicket to reconnoitre. 

The uproar which attended the passage of the herd was now 
gone, or rather it was heard rolling along the prairie, at the dis- 
tance of a mile. The clouds of dust were already blown away 
by the wind, and a clear range was left to the eye in that place 
where ten minutes before there existed a scene of so much wild- 
ness and confusion. 

The Siouxes had completed their conquest, and, apparently 
satisfied with this addition to the numerous previous captures 
they had made, they now seemed content to let the remainder 
of the herd escape. A dozen remained around the carcase, over 
which a few buzzards were balancing themselves with steady 


266 


THE PRAIRIE . 


wings and greedy eyes, while the rest were riding about in quest 
of such further booty as might come in their way on the trail 
of so vast a drove. The trapper measured the proportions and 
scanned the equipments of such individuals as drew nearer to 
the side of the thicket with careful eyes. At length he pointed 
out one among them to Middleton as Weucha. 

“Now know we not only who they are, but their errand,” 
the old man continued, deliberately shaking his head. “ They 
have lost the trail of the squatter, and are on its hunt. These 
buffaloes have crossed their path, and in chasing the animals 
bad luck has led them in open sight of the hill on which the 
brood of Ishmael have harbored. Do you see yon birds watch- 
ing for the offals of the beast they have killed ? Therein is a 
moral which teaches the manner of a prairie life. A band of 
Pawnees are outlying for these very Siouxes, as you see the 
buzzards looking down for their food ; and it behoves us, as 
Christian men who have so much at stake, to look down upon 
them both. Ha ! what brings yonder two skirting reptiles to a 
stand ? As you live they have found the place where the mise- 
rable son of the squatter met his death !” 

The old man was not mistaken. Weucha, and a savage who 
accompanied him, had reached that spot which has already been 
mentioned as furnishing the frightful evidences of violence and 
bloodshed. . There they sat on their horses, examining the well 
known signs with the intelligence that distinguishes the habits 
of Indians. Their scrutiny was long, and apparently not with- 
out distrust. At length they raised a cry that was scarcely 
less piteous and startling than that which the hounds had before 
made over the same fatal signs, and which did not fail to draw 
the whole band immediately around them, as the fell bark of 
the jackal is said to gather his comrades to the chase. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


257 


CHAPTER XX. 

“Welcome, ancient Pistol.” 


Shakspkark. 


It was not long before the trapper pointed out the commanding 
person of Mahtoree as the leader of the Siouxes. This chief, 
who had been among the last to obey the vociferous summons 
of Weucha, no sooner reached the spot where his whole party 
was now gathered, than he threw himself from his horse, and 
proceeded to examine the marks of the extraordinary trail with 
that degree of dignity and attention which became his high and 
responsible station. The warriors, for it was but too evident 
that they were to a man of that fearless and ruthless class, 
awaited the result of his investigation with patient reserve ; 
none but a few of the principal braves presuming even to speak 
while their leader was thus gravely occupied. It was several 
minutes before Mahtoree seemed satisfied. He then directed 
his eyes along the ground to those several places where Ishmael 
had found the same revolting evidences of the passage of some 
bloody struggle, and motioned to his people to follow. 

The whole band advanced in a body towards the thicket, 
until they came to a halt within a few yards of the precise spot 
where Esther had stimulated her sluggish sons to break into 
the cover. The reader will readily imagine that the trapper 
and his companions were not indifferent observers of so threat- 
ening a movement. The old man summoned all who were 
capable of bearing arms to his side, and demanded in very 
unequivocal terms, though in a voice that was suitably lowered 
in order to escape the ears of their dangerous neighbors, whe- 
ther they were disposed to make battle for their liberty or 
whether they should try the milder expedient of conciliation. 


258 


THE PRAIRIE. 


As it was a subject in which all had an equal interest, he put 
the question as to a council of war, and not without some slight 
exhibition of the lingering vestiges of a nearly extinct military 
pride. Paul and the Doctor were diametrically opposed to 
each other in opinion ; the former declaring for an immediate 
appeal to arms, and the latter was warmly espousing the policy 
of pacific measures. Middleton, who saw that there was great 
danger of a hot verbal dispute between two men who were 
governed by feelings so diametrically opposed, saw fit to assume 
the office of arbiter ; or rather to decide the question, his 
situation making him a sort of umpire. He also leaned to the 
side of peace, for he evidently saw that in consequence of the 
vast superiority of their enemies, violence would irretrievably 
lead to their destruction. 

The trapper listened to the reasons of the young soldier with 
great attention ; and as they were given with the steadiness of 
one who did not suffer apprehension to blind his judgment, 
they did not fail to produce a suitable impression. 

“It is rational,” rejoined the trapper, when the other had 
delivered his reasons ; “ it is very rational, for what man cannot 
move with his strength he must circumvent with his wits. It 
is reason that makes him stronger than the buffalo and swifter 
than the moose. Now stay you here and keep yourselves close. 
My life and my traps are but of little value when the welfare of 
so many human souls is concerned ; and moreover, I may say 
that I know the windings of Indian cunning. Therefore will I 
go alone upon the prairie. It may so happen that I can yet 
draw the eyes of a Sioux from this spot, and give you time and 
room to fly.” 

As if resolved to listen to no remonstrance, the old man 
quietly shouldered his rifle, and moving leisurely through the 
thicket, he issued on the plain at a point whence he might first 
appear before the eyes of the Siouxes without exciting their 
suspicions that he came from its cover. 

The instant that the figure of a man dressed in the garb of a 
hunter, and bearing the well known and much dreaded rifle, 


THE PRAIRIE. 


259 


appeared before the eyes of the Sioiixes, there was a sensible 
though a suppressed sensation in the band. The artifice of the 
trapper had so far succeeded as to render it extremely doubtful 
whether he came from some point on the open prairie or from the 
thicket ; though the Indians still continued to cast frequent and 
suspicious glances at the cover. They had made their halt at 
the distance of an arrow-flight from the bushes ; but when the 
stranger came sufficiently nigh to show that the deep coating 
of red and brown which time and exposure had given to his 
features, was laid upon the original color of a Pale-face, they 
slowly receded from the spot until they reached a distance that 
might defeat the aim of fire-arms. 

In the meantime the old man continued to advance, until he 
had got nigh enough to make himself heard without difficulty. 
Here he stopped, and dropping his rifle to the earth, he raised 
his hand with the palm outward, in token of peace. After 
uttering a few words of reproach to his hound, who watched the 
savage group with eyes that seemed to recognise them, he spoke 
in the Sioux tongue — 

“ My brothers are welcome,” he said, cunningly constituting 
himself the master of the region in which they had met, and 
assuming the offices of hospitality. “ They are far from their 
villages, and are hungry. Will they follow to my lodge, to eat 
and sleep ?” 

No sooner was his voice heard, than the yell of pleasure 
which burst from a dozen mouths, convinced the sagacious trap- 
per that he also was recognised. Feeling that it was too late 
to retreat, he profited by the confusion which prevailed among 
them, while Weucha was explaining his character, to advance, 
until he was again face to face with the redoubtable Mahtoree. 
The second interview between these two men, each of whom was 
extraordinary in his way, was marked by the usual caution of 
the frontiers. They stood, for nearly a minute, examining each 
other without speaking. 

“ Where are your young men ?” sternly demanded the Teton 
chieftain, after he found that the immovable features of the trap- 


260 


THE PRAIRIE. 


per refused to betray any of their master’s secrets, under his 
intimidating look. 

“ The Long-knives do not come in bands to trap the beaver ? 
I am alone.” 

“ Your head is white, but you have a forked tongue. Mahtoree 
has been in your camp. He knows that you are not alone. 
Where is your young wife, and the warrior that I found upon 
the prairie f” 

“ I have no wife. I have told my brother that the woman 
and her friend were strangers. The w 7 ords of a grey head should 
be heard, and not forgotten. The Dahcotahs found travellers 
asleep, and they thought they had no need of horses. The 
women and children of a Pale-face are not used to go far on foot. 
Let them be sought where you left them.” 

The eyes of the Teton flashed fire as he answered — 

“ They are gone : but Mahtoree is a wise chief, and his eyes 
can see a great distance !” 

“ Does the partisan of the Tetons see men on these naked 
fields?” retorted the trapper, with great steadiness of mien. 
“ I am very old, and my eyes grow dim. Where do they 
stand ?” 

The chief remained silent a moment, as if he disdained 
to contest any further the truth of a fact, concerning which he 
was already satisfied. Then pointing to the traces on the earth, 
he said, with a sudden transition to mildness in his eye and 
manner — 

“ My father has learnt wisdom, in many winters ; can he tell 
me whose moccasin has left this trail ?” 

“ There have been wolves and buffaloes on the prairies ; and 
there may have been cougars too.” 

Mahtoree glanced his eye at the thicket, as if he thought the 
latter suggestion not impossible. Pointing to the place, he 
ordered his young men to reconnoitre it more closely, caution- 
ing them at the same time, with a stern look at the trapper, to 
beware of treachery from the Big-knives. Three or four half- 
naked, eager-looking youths lashed their horses at the word 


THE PRAIRIE. 


261 


and darted away to obey the mandate. The old man trembled 
a little for the discretion of Paul, when he saw this demonstra- 
tion. The Tetons encircled the place two or three times, 
approaching nigher and nigher at each circuit, and then gallop- 
ed back to their leader to report that the copse seemed empty. 
Notwithstanding the trapper watched the eye of Mahtoree, to 
detect the inward movements of his mind, and if possible to anti- 
cipate, in order to direct his suspicions, the utmost sagacity of 
one so long accustomed to study the cold habits of the Indian 
race, could however detect no symptom, or expression, that de- 
noted how far he credited or distrusted this intelligence. Instead 
of replying to the information of his scouts, he spoke kindly 
to his horse, and motioning to a youth to receive the bridle, 
or rather halter, by which he governed the animal, he took the 
trapper by the arm, and led him a little apart from the rest of 
the band. 

“ Has my brother been a warrior ?” said the wily Teton, in a 
tone that he intended should be conciliating. 

“ Do the leaves cover the trees in the season of fruits ? Go. 
The Dahcotahs have not seen as many warriors living as I have 
looked on in their blood ! But what signifies idle remembranc- 
ing,” he added, in English, “ when limbs grow stiff and sight is 
failing !” 

The chief regarded him a moment with a severe look, as if he 
would lay bare the falsehood he had heard ; but meeting in the 
calm eye and steady mien of the trapper a confirmation of the 
truth of what he said, he took the hand of the old man, and 
laid it gently on his head in token of the respect that was due 
to the other’s years and experience. 

“ Why then do the Big-knives tell their red brethren to bury 
the tomahawk,” he said, “ when their own young men never 
forget that they are braves, and meet each other so often with 
bloody hands ?” 

•“ My nation is more numerous than the buffaloes on the 
prairies or the pigeons in the air. Their quarrels are frequent ; 
yet their warriors are few. None go out on the war-path but 


262 


THE PRAIRIE. 


they who are gifted with the qualities of a brave, and theiefore 
such see many battles.” 

“ It is not so — my father is mistaken,” returned Mahtoree, 
indulging in a smile of exulting penetration at the very instant 
he corrected the force of his denial in deference to the years and 
services of one so aged. “ The Big-knives are very wise, and 
they are men ; all of them would be warriors. They would 
leave the Red-skins to dig roots and hoe the corn. But a 
Dahcotah is not born to live like a woman ; he must strike 
the Pawnee and the Omahaw, or he will lose the name of his 
fathers.” 

“ The Master of Life looks with an open eye on his children 
who die in a battle that is fought for the right ; but he is blind 
and his ears are shut to the cries of an Indian who is killed 
when plundering or doing evil to his neighbor.” 

“ My father is old,” said Mahtoree, looking at his aged com- 
panion with an expression of irony that sufficiently denoted he 
was one of those who overstep the trammels of education, and 
who are perhaps a little given to abuse the mental liberty they 
thus obtain. “He is very old: has he made a journey to the 
far country ; and has he been at the trouble to come back to 
tell the young men what he has seen ?” 

“Teton,” returned the trapper, throwing the breech of his 
rifle to the earth with startling vehemence, and regarding his 
companion with steady serenity, “ I have heard that there are 
men among my people who study their great medicines until 
they believe themselves to be gods, and who laugh at all faith 
except in their own vanities. It may be true. It is true ; for I 
have seen them. When man is shut up in towns and schools 
with his own follies, it may be easy to believe himself greater 
than the Master of Life ; but a warrior who lives in a house with 
the clouds for its roof, where he can at any moment look both 
at the heavens and at the earth, and who daily sees the power 
of the Great Spirit, should be more humble. A Dahcotah 
chieftain ought to be too wise to laugh at justice.” 

The crafty Mahtoree, who saw that his free-thinking was not 


THE PRAIRIE. 


263 


likely to produce a favorable impression on the old man, instantly 
changed his ground, by alluding to the more immediate subject 
of their interview. Laying his hand gently on the shoulder of 
. the trapper, he led him forward until they both stood within 
fifty feet of the margin of the thicket. Here he fastened his 
penetrating eyes on the other’s honest countenance, and con- 
tinued the discourse — 

“ If my father has hid his young men in the bush let him 
tell them to come forth. You see that a Dahcotah is not afraid. 
Mahtoree is a great chief! A warrior whose head is white, and 
who is about to go to the Land of Spirits, cannot have a tongue 
with two ends, like a serpent.” 

“ Dahcotah, I have told no lie. Since the Great Spirit made 
me a man I have lived in the wilderness, or on these naked 
plains, without lodge or family. I am a hunter, and go on my 
path alone.” 

“ My father has a good carabine. Let him point it in the 
bush and fire.”. 

The old man hesitated a moment, and then slowly prepared 
himself to give this delicate assurance of the truth of what he 
said, without which he plainly perceived the suspicions of his 
crafty companion could not be lulled. As he lowered his rifle, 
his eye, although greatly dimmed and weakened by age, ran 
over the confused collection of objects that lay embedded amid 
the particolored foliage of the thicket, until it succeeded in 
catching a glimpse of the brown covering of the stem of a small 
tree. With this object in view, he raised the piece to a level 
and fired. The bullet had no sooner glided from the barrel 
than a tremor seized the hands of the trapper, which, had it 
occurred a moment sooner, would have utterly disqualified him 
for so hazardous an experiment. A frightful silence succeeded 
the report, during which he expected to hear the shrieks of the 
females ; and then, as the smoke whirled away in the wind, he 
caught a view of the fluttering bark, and felt assured that all 
his former skill was not entirely departed from him. Dropping 


264 


THE PRAIRIE. 


the piece to the earth, he turned again to his companion with 
an air of the utmost composure, and demanded — 

“ Is my brother satisfied ?” 

“ Mahtoree is a chief of the Dahcotahs,” returned the cunning 
Teton, laying his hand on his chest, in acknowledgment of the 
other’s sincerity. “ He knows that a warrior, who has smoked 
at so many council-fires, until his head has grown white, would 
not be found in wicked company. But did not my father once 
ride on a horse, like a rich chief of the Pale-faces, instead of tra- 
velling on foot like a hungry Konza ?” 

“ Never ! The Wahcondah has given me legs, and he has 
given me resolution to use them. For sixty summers and 
winters did I journey in the woods of America, and ten tiresome 
years have I dwelt on these open fields, without finding need to 
call often upon the gifts of the other creatur’s of the Lord to 
carry me from place to place.” 

“If my father has so long lived in the shade, why has he 
come upon the prairies ? The sun will scorch him.” 

The old man looked sorrowfully about for a moment, and 
then turning with a confidential air to the other, he replied — 

“ I passed the spring, summer, and autumn of life among the 
trees. The winter of my days had come, and found me where 
I loved to be, in the quiet — ay, and in the honesty of the 
woods ! Teton, then I slept happily, where my eyes could look 
up through the branches of the pines and the beeches, to the 
very dwelling of the Good Spirit of my people. If I had need 
to open my heart to him, while his fires were burning above my 
head, the door was open and before my eyes. But the axes of 
the choppers awoke me. For a long time my ears heard 
nothing but the uproar of clearings. I bore it like a warrior 
and a man ; there was reason that I should bear it : but when 
that reason was ended, I bethought me to get beyond the 
accursed sounds. It was trying to the courage and to the 
habits, but I had heard of these vast and naked fields, and I 
come hither to escape the wasteful temper of my people. Tell 
the, Dahcotah, have I not done well ?” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


265 


The trapper laid his long lean finger on the naked shoulder 
of the Indian as he ended, and seemed to demand his felicita- 
tions on his ingenuity and success, with a ghastly smile, in 
which triumph was singularly blended with regret. His com- 
panion listened intently, and replied to the question by saying, 
in the sententious manner of his race — 

“ The head of my father is very grey ; he has always lived 
with men and he has seen everything. What he does is good ; 
what he speaks is wise. Now let him say is he sure that he is 
a stranger to the Big-knives, who are looking for their beasts on 
every side of the prairies and cannot find them ?” 

“Dahcotah, what I have said is true. I live alone, and 

never do I mingle with men whose skins are white, if ” 

His mouth was suddenly closed by an interruption that was 
as mortifying as it was unexpected. The words were still on his 
tongue, when the bushes on the side of the thicket where they 
stood opened, and the whole of the party whom he had just 
left, and in whose behalf he was endeavoring to reconcile his 
love of truth to the necessity of prevaricating, came openly into 
view. A pause of mute astonishment succeeded this unlooked 
for spectacle. Then Mahtoree, who did not suffer a muscle or a 
joint to betray the winder and surprise he actually experienced, 
motioned towards the advancing friends of the trapper with an 
air of assumed civility, and a smile that lighted his fierce, dark 
visage, as the glare of the setting sun reveals the volume and 
load of the cloud, that is charged to bursting with the electric 
fluid. He however disdained to speak, or to give any other 
evidence of his intentions than by calling to his side the distant 
band, who sprang forward at his beck, with the alacrity of 
willing subordinates. 

In the meantime the friends of the old man continued to 
advance. Middleton himself was foremost, supporting the light 
and aerial looking figure of Inez, on whose anxious countenance 
he cast such occasional glances of tender interest, as, in similar 
circumstances, a father would have given to his child. Paul 
led Ellen, close in their rear. But while the eye of the bee- 

12 


266 


THE PRAIRIE. 


hunter did not neglect his blooming companion, it scowled 
angrily, resembling more the aspect of the sullen and retreating 
bear than the soft intelligence of a favored suitor. Obed and 
Asinus came last, the former leading his companion with a 
degree of fondness that could hardly be said to be exceeded by 
any other of the party. The approach of the naturalist was far 
less rapid than that of those who preceded him. His feet 
seemed equally reluctant to advance or to remain stationary ; 
his position bearing a great analogy to that of Mahomet’s coffin, 
with the exception that the quality of repulsion rather than that 
of attraction held him in a state of rest. The repulsive power 
in his rear, however, appeared to predominate ; and by a singular 
exception, as he would have said himself, to all philosophical 
principles, it rather increased than diminished by distance. As 
the eyes of the naturalist steadily maintained a position that was 
the opposite of his route, they served to give a direction to those 
of the observers of all these movements, and at once furnished a 
sufficient clue by which to unravel the mystery of so sudden a 
debouch ement from the cover. 

Another cluster of stout and armed men w T as seen at no great 
distance, just rounding a point of the thicket, and moving directly 
though cautiously towards the place where the band of the 
Siouxes was posted, as a squadron of cruisers is often seen to 
steer across the waste of waters, towards the rich but well pro- 
tected convoy. In short, the family of the squatter, or at least 
such among them as were capable of bearing arms, appeared in 
view, on the broad prairie, evidently bent on revenging their 
wrongs. 

Mahtoree and his party slowly retired from the thicket, the 
moment they caught a view of the strangers, until they halted 
on a swell that commanded a wide and unobstructed view of the 
naked fields on which they stood. Here the Dahcotah appeared 
disposed to make his stand, and to bring matters to an issue. 
Notwithstanding this retreat, in which he compelled the trapper 
to accompany him, Middleton still advanced until he too halted 
on the same elevation, and within speaking distance of the war- 


THE PRAIRIE. 


267 


like Siouxes. The borderers in their turn took a favorable 
position, though at a much greater distance. The three groups 
now resembled so many fleets at sea, lying with their topsails to 
the masts, with the commendable precaution of reconnoitring, 
before each could ascertain who among the strangers might be 
considered as friends, and who as foes. 

During this moment of suspense, the dark, threatening eye of 
Mahtoree rolled from one of the strange parties to the other, in 
keen and hasty examination, and then it turned its withering look 
on the old man, as the chief said, in a tone of high and bitter 
scorn — 

“ The Big-knives are fools ! It is easier to catch the cougar 
asleep, than to find a blind Dahcotah. Did the white head think 
to ride on the horse of a Sioux ?” 

The trapper, who had found time to collect his perplexed 
faculties, saw at once that Middleton, having perceived Ishmael 
on the trail by which they had fled, preferred trusting to the 
hospitality of the savages, than to the treatment he would be 
likely to receive from the hands of the squatter. He therefore 
disposed himself to clear the way for the favorable reception of 
his friends, since he found that the unnatural coalition became 
necessary to secure the liberty, if not the lives, of the party. 

“ Did my brother ever go on a war-path to strike my people ?” 
he calmly demanded of the indignant chief, who still awaited 
his reply. 

The lowering aspect of the Teton warrior so far lost its 
severity as to suffer a gleam of pleasure and triumph to lighten 
its ferocity, as sweeping his arm in an entire circle around his 
person, he answered — 

“ What tribe or nation has not felt the blows of the Dahco- 
tahs ? Mahtoree is their partisan.” 

“ And has he found the Big-knives women, or has he found 
them men ?” 

A multitude of fierce passions were struggling in the tawny 
countenance of the Indian. For a moment inextinguishable 
hatred seemed to hold the mastery, and then a nobler expres- 


2G8 


THE PRAIRIE. 


sion, and one that better became the character of a brave, got 
possession of his features, and maintained itself until, first 
throwing aside his light robe of pictured deer-skin, and pointing 
to the scar of a bayonet in his breast, he replied — 

“ It was given as it was taken, face to face.” 

“ It is enough. My brother is a brave chief, and he should 
be wise. Let him look : is that a warrior of the Pale-faces ? 
Was it one such as that who gave the great Dahcotah his hurt ?” 

The eyes of Mahtoree followed the direction of the old man’s 
extended arm, until they rested on the drooping form of Inez. 
The look of the Teton was long, riveted, and admiring. Like 
that of the young Pawnee, it resembled more the gaze of a 
mortal on some heavenly image, than the admiration with which 
man is w 7 ont to contemplate even the loveliness of woman. 
Starting as if suddenly self-convicted of forgetfulness, the 
chief next turned his eyes on Ellen, where they lingered an 
instant with a much more intelligible expression of admiration, 
and then pursued their course until they had taken another 
glance at each individual of the party. 

“ My brother sees that my tongue is not forked,” continued 
the trapper, watching the emotions the other betrayed, with a 
readiness of comprehension little inferior to that of the Teton 
himself. “ The Big-knives do not send their women to war. I 
know that the Dahcotahs will smoke with the strangers.” 

“ Mahtoree is a great chief ! The Big-knives are welcome,” 
said the Teton, laying his hand on his breast with an air of 
lofty politeness that would have done credit to any state of 
society. “ The arrows of my young men are in their quivers.” 

The trapper motioned to Middleton to approach, and in a few 
moments the two parties were blended in one, each of the males 
having exchanged friendly greetings, after the fashions of the 
prairie warriors. But even while engaged in this hospitable 
manner, the Dahcotah did not fail to keep a strict watch on the 
more distant party of white men, as if he still distrusted an arti- 
fice, or sought further explanation. The old man, in his turn, 
perceived the necessity of being more explicit, and of securing 


THE PRAIRIE. 


2C9 


the slight and equivocal advantage he had already obtained. 
While affecting to examine the group which still lingered at the 
spot where it had first halted, as if to discover the characters of 
those who composed it, he plainly • saw that Ishmael contem- 
plated immediate hostilities. The result of a conflict on the open 
prairie between a dozen resolute border-men and the half-armed 
natives, even though seconded by their white allies, was, in his 
experienced judgment, a point of great uncertainty ; and though 
far from reluctant to engage in the struggle on account of him- 
self, the aged trapper thought it far more worthy of his years 
and his character, to avoid than to court the contest. His 
feelings were, for obvious reasons, in accordance with those of 
Paul and Middleton, who had lives still more precious than 
their own to watch over and protect. In this dilemma the three 
consulted on the means of escaping the frightful consequences 
which might immediately follow a single act of hostility on the 
part of the borderers ; the old man taking care that their com- 
munication should, in the eyes of those who noted the expres- 
sion of their countenances with jealous watchfulness, bear the 
appearance of explanations as to the reason why such a party 
of travellers was met so far in the deserts. 

“ I know that the Dahcotahs are a wise and great people,” 
at length the trapper commenced, again addressing himself 
to the chief ; “ but does not their partisan know a single brother 
who is base ?” 

The eye of Mahtoree wandered proudly around his band, 
but rested a moment reluctantly on Weucha, as he answered — 
“The Master of Life has made chiefs, and warriors, and 
women conceiving that he thus embraced all the gradations 
of human excellence from the highest to the lowest. 

“ And he has also made Pale-faces who are wicked. Such 
are they whom my brother sees yonder.” 

“ Do they go on foot to do wrong ?” demanded the Teton, 
with a wild gleam from his eyes, that sufficiently betrayed how 
well he knew the reason why they were reduced to so humble 
an expedient. 


THE PRAIRIE . 


270 

“ Their beasts are gone. But their powder, and their lead, 
and their blankets remain.” 

“ Do they carry their riches in their hands, like miserable 
Konzas ? or are they brave, and leave them with the women, 
as men should do, who know where to find what they lose f” 

“ My brother sees the spot of blue across the prairie ; look, 
the sun has touched it for the last time to-day.” 

“ Mahtoree is not a mole.” 

“ It is a rock ; on it are the goods of the Big-knives.” 

An expression of savage joy shot into the dark countenance 
of the Teton as he listened ; turning to the old man he seemed 
to read his soul, as if to assure himself he was not deceived. 
Then he bent his look on the party of Ishmael, and counted its 
number. 

“ One warrior is wanting,” he said. 

“ Does my brother see the buzzards ? there is his grave. Did 
he find blood on the prairie ? It was his.” 

“ Enough ! Mahtoree is a wise chief. Put your women on 
the horses of the Dahcotahs : we shall see, for our eyes are open 
very wide.” 

The trapper wasted no unnecessary words in explanation. 
Familiar with the brevity and promptitude of the natives, he 
immediately communicated the result to his companions. Paul 
was mounted in an instant, with Ellen at his back. A few 
more moments were necessary to assure Middleton of the 
security and ease of Inez. While he was thus engaged, 
Mahtoree advanced to the side of the beast he had allotted to 
this service, which was his own, and manifested an intention to 
occupy his customary place on its back. The young soldier 
seized the reins of the animal, and glances of sudden anger and 
lofty pride were exchanged between them. 

“No man takes this seat but myself,” said Middleton, sternly, 
in English. 

“Mahtoree is a great chief!” retorted the savage; neither 
comprehending the meaning of the other’s words. 

“ The Dahcotah will be too late,” whispered the old man at 


THE PRAIRIE. 


271 


his elbow ; “ see ; the Big-knives are afraid, and they will soon 
run.” 

The Teton chief instantly abandoned his claim, and threw 
himself on another horse, directing one of his young men to 
furnish a similar accommodation for the trapper. The warriors 
who were dismounted, got up behind as many of their com- 
panions. Doctor Battius bestrode Asinus ; and, notwithstand- 
ing the brief interruption, in half the time we have taken to 
relate it, the whole party was prepared to move. 

When he saw that all were ready, Mahtoree gave the signal 
to advance. A few of the best mounted of the warriors, the 
chief himself included, moved a little in front, and made a 
threatening demonstration, as if they intended to attack the 
strangers. The squatter, who was in truth slowly retiring, 
instantly halted his party, and showed a willing front. Instead, 
however, of coming within reach of the dangerous aim of the 
western rifle, the subtle savages kept wheeling about the 
strangers until they had made a half circuit, keeping the latter 
in constant expectation of an assault. Then, perfectly secure of 
their object, the Tetons raised a loud shout, and darted across 
the prairie in a line for the distant rock, with the directness and 
nearly with the velocity of the arrow that has just been shot 
from its bow. 


212 


THE PRAIRIE. 


CHAPTER XXI. 

“ Dally not with the gods, but get thee gone.” 

SlIAKSPEARB. 

Mahtoree had scarcely given the first intimation of his real 
design, before a general discharge from the borderers proved how 
well they understood it. The distance, and the rapidity of the 
flight, however, rendered the fire harmless. As a proof how 
little he regarded the hostility of their party, the Dahcotah 
chieftain answered the report with a yell ; and, flourishing his 
carabine above his head, he made a circuit on the plain, followed 
by his chosen warriors, in scorn of the impotent attempt of his 
enemies. As the main body continued the direct course, this 
little band of the tlite, in returning from its wild exhibition of 
savage contempt, took its place in the rear, with a dexterity and 
a concert of action that showed the manoeuvre had been contem- 
plated. 

Volley swiftly succeeded volley, until the enraged squatter 
was reluctantly compelled to abandon the idea of injuring his 
enemies by means so feeble. Relinquishing his fruitless attempt, 
he commenced a rapid pursuit, occasionally discharging a rifle 
in order to give the alarm to the garrison, which he had prudently 
left under the command of the redoubtable Esther herself. In 
this manner the chase was continued for many minutes, the 
horsemen gradually gaining on their pursuers, who maintained 
the race, however, with an incredible power of foot. 

As the little speck of blue rose against the heavens, like an 
island issuing from the deep, the savages occasionally raised a 
yell of triumph. But the mists of evening were already gather- 
ing along the whole of the eastern margin of the prairie, and 
before the band had made half of the necessary distance, the dim 


THE PRAIRIE. 


273 


outline of the rock had melted into the haze of the background. 
Indifferent to this circumstance, which rather favored than dis- 
concerted his plans, Mahtoree, who had again ridden in front, 
held on his course with the accuracy of a hound of the truest 
scent, merely slackening his speed a little, as the horses of his 
party were by this time thoroughly blown. It was at this stage 
of the enterprise that the old man rode up to the side of 
Middleton, and addressed him as follows in English — 

“ Here is likely to be a thieving business, and one in which I 
must say I have but little wish to be a partner.” 

“ What would you do ? It would be fatal to trust ourselves 
in the hands of the miscreants in our rear.” 

“ Tut for miscreants, be they red or be they white. Look 
ahead, lad, as if ye were talking of our medicines, or perhaps 
praising the Teton beasts. For the knaves love to hear their 
horses commended, the same as a foolish mother in the settle 
ments is fond of hearing the praises of her wilful child. So ; 
pat the animal and lay your hand on the gewgaws with which 
the Red-skins have ornamented his mane, giving your eye as it 
were to one thing, and your mind to another. Listen : if matters 
are managed with judgment, we may leave these Tetons as the 
night sets in.” 

“ A blessed thought !” exclaimed Middleton, who retained a 
painful remembrance of the look of admiration with which 
Mahtoree had contemplated the loveliness of Inez, as well as of 
his subsequent presumption in daring to wish to take the office 
of her protector on himself. 

“ Lord, Lord ! what a weak creatur’ is man, when the gifts of 
natur’ are smothered in bookish knowledge and womanly man- 
ners ! Such another start would tell these imps at our elbows 
that we were plotting against them, just as plainly as if it were 
whispered in their ears by a Sioux tongue. Ay, ay, I know the 
devils ; they look as innocent as so many frisky fawns, but there 
is not one among them all that has not an eye on our smallest 
motions. Therefore, what is to be done is to be done in wisdom, 
in order to circumvent their cunning. That is right ; pat his 

12 * 


274 


THE PRAIRIE. 


tieek and smile, as if you praised the horse, and keep the ear on 
my side open to my words. Be careful not to worry your beast, 
for though but little skilled in horses, reason teaches that breath 
is needful in a hard push, and that a weary leg makes a dull 
race. Be ready to mind the signal, when you hear a whine 
from old Hector. The first will be to make ready : the second, 
to edge out of the crowd ; and the third, to go — am I under- 
stood ?” 

“ Perfectly, perfectly,” said Middleton, trembling in his exces- 
sive eagerness to put the plan in instant execution, and pressing 
the little arm, which encircled his body, to his heart. “ Per- 
fectly. Hasten, hasten.” 

“ Ay, the beast is no sloth,” continued the trapper in the 
Teton language, as if he continued the discourse, edging 
cautiously through the dusky throng at the same time, until 
he found himself riding at the side of Paul. He communicated 
his intentions in the same guarded manner as before. The 
high-spirited and fearless bee-hunter received the intelligence 
with delight, declaring his readiness to engage the whole of the 
savage band, should it become necessary to effect their object. 
When the old man drew off from the side of this pair also, he 
cast his eyes about him to discover the situation occupied by 
the naturalist. 

The Doctor, with infinite labor to himself and Asinus, had 
maintained a position in the very centre of the Siouxes, so long 
as there existed the smallest reason for believing that any of 
the missiles of Ishmael might arrive in contact with his person. 
After this danger had diminished, or rather disappeared entirely, 
his own courage revived, while that of his steed began to droop. 
To this mutual but very material change was owing the fact, 
that the rider and the ass were now to be sought among that 
portion of the band who formed a sort of rear-guard. Hither, 
then, the trapper contrived to turn his steed, without exciting 
the suspicions of any of his subtle companions. 

“Friend,” commenced the old man, when he found himself 
in a situation favorable to discourse, “ should you like to pass a 


THE TRAIRIE. 


275 


dozen years among the savages with a shaved head, and a 
painted countenance, with, perhaps, a couple of wives and five 
or six children of the half breed, to call you father ?” 

“ Impossible !” exclaimed the startled naturalist. “ I am 
indisposed to matrimony in general, and more especially to all 
admixture of the varieties of species , which only tend to tarnish 
the beauty and to interrupt the harmony of nature. Moreover, 
it is a painful innovation on the order of all nomencla- 
tures.” 

“ Ay, ay, you have reason enough for your distaste to such a 
life ; but should these Siouxes get you fairly into their village, 
such would be your luck, as certain as that the sun rises and 
sets at the pleasure of the Lord.” 

“ Marry me to a woman who is not adorned with the comeli- 
ness of the species /” responded the Doctor. “ Of what crime 
have I been guilty, that so grievous a punishment should await 
the offence ? To marry a man against the movements of his 
will, is to do a violence to human nature !” 

“ Now, that you speak of natur’, I have hopes that the gift 
of reason has not altogether deserted your brain,” returned the 
old man, with a covert expression playing about the angles of 
his deep set eyes, which betrayed he was not entirely destitute 
of humor. “ Nay, they may conceive you a remarkable subject 
for their kindness, and for that matter marry you to five or six. 
I have known, in my days, favored chiefs who had numberless 
wives.” 

“ But why should they meditate this vengeance I” demanded 
the Doctor, whose hair began to rise, as if each fibre was pos- 
sessed of sensibility ; “ what evil have I done ?” 

“ It is the fashion of their kindness. When they come to 
learn that you are a great medicine, they will adopt you into the 
tribe, and some mighty chief will give you his name, and per- 
haps his daughter, or it may be a wife or two of his own, who 
have dwelt long in his lodge, and of whose value he is a judge 
by experience.” 

“The Governor and Founder of natural harmony protect 


276 


THE PRAIRIE. 


me !” ejaculated the Doctor. “ I have no affinity to a single 
consort, much less to duplicates and triplicates of the class ! I 
shall certainly essay a flight from their abodes before I mingle 
in so violent a conjunction.” 

“ There is reason in your words ; but why not attempt the 
race you speak of now ?” 

The naturalist looked fearfully around, as if he had an incli- 
nation to make an instant exhibition of his desperate intention ; 
but the dusky figures who were riding on every side of him 
seemed suddenly tripled in number, and the darkness that was 
already thickening on the prairie, appeared in his eyes to possess 
the glare of high noon. 

“ It would be premature, and reason forbids it,” he answered. 
“Leave me, venerable Venator, to the council of my own 
thoughts, and when my plans are properly classed, I will advise 
you of my resolutions.” 

“ Resolutions !” repeated the old man, shaking his head a 
little contemptuously as he gave the rein to his horse, and 
allowed him to mingle with the steeds of the savages. “ Reso- 
lution is a word that is talked of in the settlements, and felt on 
the borders. Does my brother know the beast on which the 
Pale-face rides ?” he continued, addressing a gloomy looking 
warrior in his own tongue, and making a motion with his arm 
that at the same time directed his attention to the naturalist and 
the meek Asinus. 

The Teton turned his eyes for a minute on the animal, but 
disdained to manifest the smallest portion of that wonder he had 
felt, in common with all his companions, on first viewing so rare 
a quadruped. The trapper was not ignorant that while asses 
and mules were beginning to be known to those tribes who 
dwelt nearest the Mexicos, they were not usually encountered so 
far north as the waters of La Platte. He therefore managed to 
read the mute astonishment that lay so deeply concealed in the 
tawny visage of the savage, and took his measures accordingly. 

“ Does my brother think that the rider is a warrior of the 
Pale-faces ?” he demanded; when he believed that sufficient 


THE PRAIRIE. 277 

time had elapsed for a full examination of the pacific mien of 
the naturalist. 

The flash of scorn which shot across the features of the Teton 
was visible even by the dim light of the stars. 

“ Is a Dahcotah a fool ?” was the answer. 

“ They are a wise nation, whose eyes are never shut ; much 
do I wonder that they have not seen the great medicine of the 
Big-knives !” 

“ Wagh !” exclaimed his companion, suffering the whole of 
his amazement to burst out of his dark rigid countenance at the 
surprise, like a flash of lightning illuminating the gloom of mid- 
night. 

“ The Dahcotah knows that my tongue is not forked. Let 
him open his eyes wider. Does he not see a very great medi- 
cine ?” 

The light was not necessary to recall to the savage each 
feature in the really remarkable costume and equipage of Dr. 
Battius. In common with the rest of the band, and in 
conformity with the universal practice of the Indians, this war- 
rior, while he had suffered no gaze of idle curiosity to disgrace 
his manhood, had not permitted a single distinctive mark 
which might characterize any one of the strangers to escape his 
vigilance. He knew the air, the stature, the dress, and the 
features, even to the color of the eyes and of the hair, of every 
one of the Big-knives whom he had thus strangely encountered, 
and deeply had he ruminated on the causes which could have 
led a party so singularly constituted, into the haunts of the rude 
inhabitants of his native wastes. He had already considered 
the several physical powers of the whole party, and had duly 
compared their abilities with what he supposed might have 
been their intentions. Warriors they were not, for the Big- 
knives, like the Siouxes, left their women in their villages when 
they went out on the bloody path. The same objections 
applied to them as hunters, and even as traders, the two 
characters under which the white men commonly appeared in 
their villages. He had heard of a great council at which the 


278 


THE JPRAIRIE. 


Menahashah, or Long-knives, and the W ashsheomantiqua, or 
Spaniards, had smoked together, when the latter had sold to the 
former, their incomprehensible rights over those vast regions 
through which his nation had roamed in freedom for so many 
ages. His simple mind had not been able to embrace the 
reasons why one people should thus assume a superiority over 
the possessions of another ; and it will readily be perceived that, 
at the hint just received from the trapper, he was not indisposed 
to fancy that some of the hidden subtlety of that magical influ- 
ence of which he was so Arm a believer, was about to be 
practised by the unsuspecting subject of their conversation, in 
furtherance of these mysterious claims. Abandoning, therefore, 
all the reserve and dignity of his manner under the conscious 
helplessness of ignorance, he turned to the old man, and 
stretching forth his arms, as if to denote how much he lay at 
his mercy, he said — 

“ Let my father look at me. I am a wild man of the prai- 
ries ; my body is naked ; my hands empty ; my skin red. I 
have struck the Pawnees, the Konzas, the Omahaws, the 
Osages, and even the Long-knives. I am a man amid warriors, 
but a woman among the conjurors. Let my father speak : 
the ears of the Teton are open. He listens like a deer to the 
step of the cougar.” 

“ Such are the wise and uns’archable ways of One who alone 
knows good from evil ! ” exclaimed the trapper, in English, 
“ To some he grants cunning, and on others he bestows the gift 
of manhood ! It is humbling and it is afflicting to see so noble 
a creatur’ as this, who has fou't in many a bloody fray, truckling 
before his superstition like a beggar asking for the bones you 
would throw to the dogs. The Lord will forgive me for playing 
with the ignorance of the savage, for he knows I do it in no 
mockery of his state, or in idle vaunting of my own ; but in 
order to save mortal life, and to give justice to the wronged, 
while I defeat the deviltries of the wicked ! Teton,” speaking 
again in the language of the listener, “ I ask you, is not that a 
wonderful medicine ? If the Dahcotahs are wise, they will not 


THE PRAIRIE. 


279 


breathe the air he breathes, nor touch his robes. They know 
that the Wahconshecheh (bad spirit) loves his own children, 
and will not turn his back on him that does them harm.” 

The old man delivered this opinion in an ominous and sen- 
tentious manner, and then rode apart as if he had said enough. 
The result justified his expectations. The warrior to whom he 
had addressed himself, was not slow to communicate his 
important knowledge to the rest of the rear-guard, and in a 
very few moments the naturalist was the object of general 
observation and reverence. The trapper, who understood that 
the natives often worshipped, with a view to propitiate, the 
evil spirit, awaited the workings of his artifice, with the coolness 
of one who had not the smallest interest in its effects. It was 
not long before he saw one dark figure after another lashing 
his horse, and galloping ahead into the centre of the band, 
until Weucha alone remained nigh the persons of himself and 
Obed. The very dulness of this grovelling-minded savage, 
who continued gazing at the supposed conjuror with a sort of 
stupid admiration, opposed now the only obstacle to the com- 
plete success of his artifice. 

Thoroughly understanding the character of this Indian, the 
old man lost no time in getting rid of him also. Riding to his 
side he said, in an affected whisper — 

“ Has Weucha drunk of the milk of the Big-knives 
to-day ? ” 

“ Hugh ! ” exclaimed the savage, every dull thought instantly 
recalled from heaven to earth by the question. 

“ Because the great captain of my people, who rides in front, 
has a cow that is never empty. I know it will not be long 
before he will say, 1 Are any of my red brethren dry ? ’ ” 

The words were scarcely uttered, before Weucha, in his turn, 
quickened the gait of his beast, and was soon blended with the 
rest of the dark group, who were riding, at a more moderate 
pace, a few rods in advance. The trapper, who knew how fickle 
and sudden were the changes of a savage mind, did not lose a 
moment in profiting by this advantage. He loosened the reius 


280 


THE PRAIRIE. 


of his own impatient steed, and in an instant he was again at 
the side of Obed. 

“ Do you see the twinkling star, that is, may be, the 
length of four rifles above the prairie ; hereaway to the North 
I mean.” 

“ Ay, it is of the constellation ” 

“ A tut for your constellations, man ; do you see the star I 
mean ? Tell me in the English of the land, yes or no.” 

“Yes.” 

“ The moment my back is turned, pull upon the rein of your 
ass, until you lose sight of the savages. Then take the Lord 
for your dependence, and yonder star for your guide. Turn 
neither to the right hand nor to the left, but make diligent use 
of your time, for your beast is not quick of foot, and every 
inch of prairie you gain, is a day added to your liberty, or to 
your life.” 

Without waiting to listen to the queries which the naturalist 
was about to put, the old man again loosened the reins of his 
horse, and presently he too was blended with the group in 
front. 

Obed was now alone. Asinus willingly obeyed the hint 
which his master soon gave, rather in desperation than with 
any very collected understanding of the orders he had received, 
and checked his pace accordingly. As the Tetons, however, 
rode at a hand-gallop, but a moment of time was necessary, 
after the ass began to walk, to remove them effectually from 
before the vision of his rider. Without plan, expectation, or 
hope of any sort, except that of escaping from his dangerous 
neighbors, the Doctor, first feeling to assure himself that the 
package which contained the miserable remnants of his speci- 
mens and notes was safe at his crupper, turned the head of the 
beast in the required direction, and kicking him with a species 
of fury, he soon succeeded in exciting the speed of the patient 
animal into a smart run. He had barely time to descend into 
a hollow and ascend the adjoining swell of the prairie before he 
heard, or fancied he heard, his name shouted in good English 


THE PRAIRIE. 


281 


from the throats of twenty Tetons. The delusion gave a new 
impulse to his ardor ; and no professor of the saltant art ever 
applied himself with greater industry than the naturalist now 
used his heels on the ribs of Asinus. The conflict endured for 
several minutes without interruption, and to all appearances it 
might have continued to the present moment had not the meek 
temper of the beast become unduly excited. Borrowing an idea 
from the manner in which his master exhibited his agitation, 
Asinus so far changed the application of his own heels as to 
raise them simultaneously with a certain indignant flourish into 
the air, a measure that instantly decided the controversy in his 
favor. Obed took leave of his seat as of a position no longer 
tenable, continuing, however, the direction of his flight ; while 
the ass, like a conqueror, took possession of the field of battle, 
beginning to crop the dry herbage as the fruits of victory. 

When Doctor Battius had recovered his feet and rallied his 
faculties, which were in a good deal of disorder from the hurried 
manner in which he had abandoned his former situation, he 
returned in quest of his specimens and of his ass. Asinus dis- 
played enough of magnanimity to render the interview amicable, 
and thenceforth the naturalist continued the required route with 
very commendable industry, but with a much more tempered 
discretion. 

In the meantime the old trapper had not lost sight of the 
important movements that he had undertaken to control. Obed 
had not been mistaken in supposing that he was already missed 
and sought, though his imagination had corrupted certain savage 
cries into the well known sounds that composed his own latin- 
ized name. The truth was simply this. The warriors of tho 
rear-guard had not failed to apprise those in front of the myste- 
rious character with which it had pleased the trapper to invest 
the unsuspecting naturalist. The same untutored admiration 
which on the receipt of this intelligence had driven those in tho 
rear to the front, now drove many of the front to the rear. The 
Doctor was of course absent, and the outcry was no more than 


282 


THE PRAIRIE. 


the wild yells which were raised in the first burst of savage dis- 
appointment. 

But the authority of Mahtoree was prompt to aid the inge- 
nuity of the trapper, in suppressing these dangerous sounds. 
When order was restored and the former was made acquainted 
with the reason why his young men had betrayed so strong a 
mark of indiscretion, the old man, who had taken a post at his 
elbow, saw with alarm the gleam of keen distrust that flashed 
in his swarthy visage. 

“Where is your conjuror?” demanded the chief, turning 
suddenly to the trapper, as if he meant to make him responsible 
for the re-appearance of Obed. 

“Can I tell my brother the number of the stars? the ways 
of a great medicine are not like the ways of other men.” 

“ Listen to me, grey-head, and count my words,” continued 
the other, bending on his rude saddle-bow like some chevalier 
of a more civilized race, and speaking in the haughty tones of 
absolute power ; “ the Dahcotalis have not chosen a woman for 
their chief; when Mahtoree feels the power of a great medicine 
he will tremble; until then he will look with his own eyes 
without borrowing sight from a Pale-face. If your conjuror is 
not with his friends in the morning my young men shall look 
for him. Your ears are open. Enough.” 

The trapper was not sorry to find that so long a respite was 
granted. He had before found reason to believe, that the 
Teton partisan was one of those bold spirits who overstep the 
limits which use and education fix to the opinions of man in 
every state of society, and he now saw plainly that he must 
adopt some artifice to deceive him, different from that which had 
succeeded so well with his followers. The sudden appearance 
of the rock, however, which hove up, a bleak and ragged mass, 
out of the darkness ahead, put an end for the present to the 
discourse, Mahtoree giving all his thoughts to the execution of 
his designs on the rest of the squatter’s movables. A murmur 
ran through the band, as each dark warrior caught a glimpse 


THE PRAIRIE. 


288 


of the desired haven, after which the nicest ear might have 
listened in vain to catch a sound louder than the rustling of 
feet among the tall grass of the prairie. 

But the vigilance of Esther was not easily deceived. She had 
long listened anxiously to the suspicious sounds which approached 
the rock across the naked waste, nor had the sudden outcry 
been unheard by the unwearied sentinels of the rock. The 
savages, who had dismounted at some little distance, had not 
time to draw around the base of the hill in their customary 
silent and insidious manner, before the voice of the Amazon 
was raised, demanding — 

u Who is beneath ? Answer for your lives ! Siouxes or devils, 
I fear ye not ! ” 

No answer was given to this challenge, every warrior halting 
where he stood, confident that his dusky form was blended 
with the shadows of the plain. It was at this moment that the 
trapper determined to escape. He had been left with the rest 
of his friends, under the surveillance of those who were assigned 
to the duty of watching the horses, and as they all continued 
mounted, the moment appeared favorable to his project. The 
attention of the guards was drawn to the rock, and a heavy 
cloud driving above them at that instant, obscured even the 
feeble light which fell from the stars. Leaning on the neck of 
his horse, the old man muttered — 

“ Where is my pup ? Where is it — Hector — where is it, 
dog?” 

The hound caught the well known sounds, and answered by 
a whine of friendship, which threatened to break out into one 
of his piercing howls. The trapper was in the act of raising 
himself from this successful exploit, when he felt the hand of 
Weucha grasping his throat, as if determined to suppress his 
voice by the very unequivocal process of strangulation. Profit- 
ing by the circumstance, he raised another low sound, as in the 
natural effort of breathing, which drew a second responsive 
cry from the faithful hound. Weucha instantly abandoned his 
hold of the master in order to wreak his vengeance on the dog. 


284 


THE PRAIRIE. 


But the voice of Esther was again heard, and every other design 
was abandoned in order to listen. 

“ Ay, whine and deform your throats as you may, ye imps 
of darkness,” she said, with a cracked but scornful laugh ; “ I 
know ye ; tarry, and ye shall have light for your misdeeds. 
Put in the coal, Phoebe ; put in the coal ; your father and the 
boys shall see that they are wanted at home, to welcome their 
guests.” 

As she spoke, a strong light, like that of a brilliant star, was 
seen on the very pinnacle of the rock ; then followed a forked 
flame, which curled for a moment amid the windings of an 
enormous pile of brush, and flashing upwards in an united sheet, 
it wavered to and fro, in the passing air, shedding a bright 
glare on every object within its influence. A taunting laugh 
was head from the height, in which the voices of all ages 
mingled, as though they triumphed at having so successfully 
exposed the treacherous intentions of the Tetons. 

The trapper looked about him to ascertain in what situations 
he might find his friends. True to the signals, Middleton and 
Paul had drawn a little apart, and now stood ready, by every 
appearance, to commence their flight at the third repetition of 
the cry. Hector had escaped his savage pursuer, and was 
again crouching at the heels of his master’s horse. But tho 
broad circle of light was gradually increasing in extent and 
power, and the old man, whose eye and judgment so rarely 
failed him, patiently awaited a more propitious moment for his 
enterprise. 

“ Now, Ishmael, my man, if sight and hand ar’ true as ever, 
now is the time to work upon these Red-skins, who claim to own 
all your property, even to your wife and children ! Now, my 
good man, prove both breed and character !” 

A distant shout was heard in the direction of the approach- 
ing party of the squatter, assuring the female garrison that 
succor was not far distant. Esther answered to the grateful 
sounds by a cracked cry of her own, lifting her form, in the first 
burst of exultation, above the rock in a manner to be visible to 




THE PRAIRIE. 


285 


all below. Not content with this dangerous exposure of her 
person, she was in the act of tossing her arms in triumph, when 
the dark figure of Mahtoree shot into the light and pinioned 
them to her side. The forms of three other warriors glided 
across the top of the rock, looking like naked demons flitting 
among the clouds. The air was filled with the brands of 
the beacon, and a heavy darkness succeeded, not unlike that of 
the appalling instant when the last rays of the sun are 
excluded by the intervening mass of the moon. A yell of 
triumph burst from the savages in their turn, and was rather 
accompanied than followed by a long, loud whine from Hector. 

In an instant the old man was between the horses of Middle- 
ton and Paul, extending a hand to the bridle of each, in order to 
check the impatience of their riders. 

“ Softly, softly,” he whispered, “ their eyes are as marvellously 
shut for the minute, as if the Lord had stricken them blind ; but 
their ears are open. Softly, softly ; for fifty rods, at least, we 
must move no faster than a walk.” 

The five minutes of doubt that succeeded appeared like 
an age to all but the trapper. As their sight was gradually 
restored, it seemed to each that the momentary gloom which 
followed the extinction of the beacon, was to be replaced by as 
broad a light as that of noon-day. Gradually the old man, how- 
ever, suffered the animals to quicken their steps, until they had 
gained the centre of one of the prairie bottoms. Then laughing 
in his quiet manner, he released the reins, and said — 

“ Now let them give play to their legs ; but keep on the old 
fog to deaden the sounds.” 

It is needless to say how cheerfully he was obeyed. In 
a few more minutes they ascended and crossed a swell of the 
land, after which the flight was continued at the top of their 
horses’ speed, keeping the indicated star in view, as the laboring 
bark steers for the light which points the way to a haven and 
security. 


260 


THE PK X I K I £ ■ 




CHAPTER XX IL 

• Tbe denis and sunbeams o'er Eis eye, 

Thai once their shades and dories threw. 

Haw left, in yonder siieri sty. 

Xo vestirre where they flew.’' 

HosTG-nxuT. 

A stillness, as deep as that which marked the gloomy 
musics in their front, was observed by the fugitives to distinguish 
the spot they had just abandoned. Even the trapper lent hk 
practised faculties, in vain, to detect any of the well known signs 
which might establish the important feet that hostilities had 
actually commenced between the parties of Mahtoree and Ish- 
mael ; but their Loises carried them out of the reach of sounds, 
without the occurrence of the smallest evidence- of the sort. 
The old man. from time to time, muttered his discontent, but 
manifested the uneasiness he actually entertained in no other 
manner, unless it might be in exhibiting a growing anxiety to 
urge the animals to increase their speed. He pointed out in 
passing, the deserted swale where the family of the squatter had 
encamped, the night they were introduced to the reader, and 
afterwards he maintained an ominous silence ; ominous, because 
his companions had already seen enough of his character, to be 
convinced that the circumstances must be critical indeed, which 
possessed the power to disturb the well regulated tranquillity of 
the old man's mind. 

“Have we not done enough P Middleton demanded, in 
tenderness to the inability of Inez and Eden to endure so much 
fatigue, at the end of some hours ; “ we have ridden hard, and 
have crossed a wide tract of plain. It is time to seek a place 
of rest* 

“ You must seek it then in Heaven, if you find yourselves 
unequal to a longer march," murmured the old trapper. “ Had 


THE PRAIRIE. 


287 


the Tetons and the squatter come to blows, as any one might 
see in the naturi of things they were bound to do, there would 
be time to look about us, and to calculate not only the chances 
but the comforts of the journey ; but as the case actually k, I 
should consider it certain death, or endless captivity, to trust 
our eyes with sleep until our heads are fairly hid in seme 
uncommon cover. 5 ’ 

M I know not,” returned the youth, who reflected more on 
the sufferings of the fragile being he supported, than on the 
experience of his companion; “I know not; we have ridden 
leagues, and I can see no extraordinary signs of danger : — if 
you fear for yourself my good friend, believe me you are wrong, 
for ” 

“ Your gran'ther, were he living and here,” interrupted the 
old man, stretching forth a hand, and laying a finger impres- 
sively on the arm of Middleton, “ would have spared those 
words. He had some reason to think that, in the prime of my 
dap, when my eye was quicker than the hawk's, and my limbs 
were as active as the legs of the follow-deer, I never clung too 
eagerly and fondly to life : then why should I now feel such a 
childish affection for a thing that I know to he vain, and the 
companion of pain and sorrow ? Let the Tetons do their worst ; 
they will not find a miserable and worn oat trapper the fondest 
in his complaints, or his prayers.” 

“Pardon me, my worthy, my -inestimable friend,” exclaimed 
the repentant yonng man, warmly grasping the hand which the 
other was in the act of withdrawing ; “ I knew not what I said 
— or rather I thought only of those whose tenderness we are 
most bound to consider.” 

“Enough. It’s nator*, and it is right. Therein your 
gran’ther would have done the very same. Ah’s me ! what a 
number of seasons, hot and cold, wet and dry, have rolled over 
my poor head, since the time we worried it out together, among 
the Red Hnrons of the Lakes, back in those rugged mountains 
of Old York ! and many a noble buck has since that day fallen 
by my hand ; ay, and many a thieving Mingo too ! Tell me. 


288 


THE PRAIRIE. 


lad, did the general; for general I know he got to be, did he 
ever tell you of the deer we took, that night the outlyers of the 
accursed tribe drove us to the caves on the island, and how wo 
feasted and drunk in security ?” 

“ I have often heard him mention the smallest circumstance 
of the night you mean ; but ” 

“ And the singer ; and his open throat ; and his shoutings in 
the fights F continued the old man, laughing joyously at the 
strength of his own recollections. 

“All — all — he forgot nothing, even to the most trifling 
incident. Do you not ■” 

“ What ! did he tell you of the imp behind the log — and of 
the miserable devil who went over the fall — or of the wretch in 
the tree ?” 

“ Of each and all, with everything that concerned them.* I 
should think ” 

“Ay,” continued the old man, in a voice which betrayed how 
powerfully his own faculties retained the impression of the 
spectacle, “I have been a dweller in forests and in the wilder- 
ness for three-score and ten years, and if any can pretend to 
know the world, or to have seen scary sights, it is myself! But 
never, before nor since, have I seen human man in such a state 
of mortal despair as that very savage ; and yet he scorned to 
speak, or to cry out, or to own his forlorn condition ! It is 
their gift, and nobly did he maintain it F 

“ Harkee, old trapper,” interrupted Paul, who, content with 
the knowledge that his waist was grasped by one of the arms of 
Ellen, had hitherto ridden in unusual silence ; “ my eyes are as 
true and as delicate as a humming bird’s in the day ; but they 
are nothing worth boasting of by starlight. Is that a sick 
buffalo crawling along in the bottom there, or is it one of the * 
stray cattle of the savages ?” 

The whole party drew up, in order to examine the object 

* They who have read the preceding books, in which the trapper appears as a 
hunter and a scout, will readily understand the allusions. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


289 


which Paul had pointed out. During most of the time they had 
ridden in the little vales in order to seek the protection of the 
shadows, but just at that moment they had ascended a roll of 
the prairie in order to cross into the very bottom where this 
unknown animal was now seen. 

“ Let us descend,” said Middleton ; “ be it beast or man, wo 
are too strong to have any cause of fear.” 

“ Now, if the thing was not morally impossible,” cried the 
trapper, who the reader must have already discovered was not 
always exact in the use of qualifying words, “if the thing was 
not morally impossible, I should say that was the man who 
journeys in search of reptiles and insects : our fellow-traveller, 
the Doctor.” 

“ Why impossible ? did you not direct him to pursue this 
course, in order to rejoin us ?” 

“ Ay, but I did not tell him to make an ass outdo the speed 
of a horse : — you are right — you are right,” said the trapper, 
interrupting himself, as by gradually lessening the distance 
between them, his eyes assured him it was Obed and Asinus 
whom he saw : “ you are right, as certainly as the thing is a 
miracle. Lord, what a thing is fear ! How now, friend ; you 
have been industrious to have got so far ahead in so short a time. 
I marvel at the speed of the ass !” 

“ Asinus is overcome,” returned the naturalist, mournfully. 
“ The animal has certainly not been idle since we separated, but 
he declines all my admonitions and invitations to proceed. I 
hope there is no instant fear from the savages ?” 

“ I cannot say that ; I cannot say that ; matters are not as 
they should be, atween the squatter and the Tetons, nor will I 
answer as yet for the safety of any scalp among us. The 
beast is broken down ! you have urged him beyond his natural 
gifts, and he is like a worried hound. There is pity and 
discretion in all things, even though a man be riding for his life.” 

“You indicated the star,” returned the Doctor, “and I 
deemed it expedient to use great diligence in pursuing the direc- 
tion.” 


18 


290 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ Did you expect to reach it by such haste ? Go, go ; you 
talk boldly of the creatur’s of the Lord, though I plainly sea you 
are but a child in matters that concern their gifts and instincts. 
What a plight would you now be in, if there was need for a long 
and a quick push with our heels ?” 

“ The fault exists in the formation of the quadruped,” said 
Obed, whose placid temper began to revolt under so many 
scandalous imputations. “ Had there been rotary levers for two 
of the members, a moiety of the fatigue would have been saved, 
for one item ” 

“That, for your moiety’s and rotaries and items, man; a 
jaded ass is a jaded ass, and he who denies it is but a brother 
of the beast itself. Now, captain, are we driven to choose one 
of two evils. We must either abandon this man, who has been 
too much with us through good and bad to be easily cast away, 
or we must seek a cover to let the animal rest.” 

“ Venerable venator !” exclaimed the alarmed Obed ; “ I con- 
jure you by all the secret sympathies of our common nature, by 
all the hidden ” 

“ Ah, fear has brought him to talk a little rational sense ! 
It is not natur’, truly, to abandon a brother in distress; 
and the Lord he knows that I have never yet done the shame- 
ful deed. You are right, friend, you are right ; we must 
all be hidden, and that speedily. But what to do with 
the ass ! Friend Doctor, do you truly value the life of the 
creatur’ ?” 

“ He is an ancient and faithful servant,” returned the discon- 
solate Obed, “ and with pain should I see him come to any 
harm. Fetter his lower limbs, and leave him to repose in this 
bed of herbage. I will engage he shall be found where he is 
left, in the morning.” 

“ And the Siouxes ? What would become of the beast should 
any of the red imps catch a peep at his ears, growing up out of 
the grass like two mullein-tops ?” cried the bee-hunter. “ They 
would stick him as full of arrows as a woman’s cushion is full of 
pins, and then believe they had done the job for the father of 


THE PRAIRIE. 


291 


all rabbits ! My word for it but they would find out their blun- 
der at the first mouthful !” 

Middleton, who began to grow im patient under the protracted 
discussion, interposed, and, as a good deal of deference was paid 
to his rank, he quickly prevailed in his efforts to effect a sort of 
compromise. The humble Asinus, too meek and too weary to 
make any resistance, was soon tethered and deposited in his 
bed of dying grass, where he was left with a perfect confidence 
on the part of his master, of finding him again, at the expira- 
tion of a few hours. The old man strongly remonstrated against 
this arrangement, and more than once hinted that the knife was 
much more certain than the tether ; but the petitions of Obed, 
aided perhaps by the secret reluctance of the trapper to destroy 
the beast, were the means of saving its life. When Asinus was 
thus secured, and as his master believed secreted, the whole 
party proceeded to find some place where they might rest them- 
selves, during the time required for the repose of the animal. 

According to the calculations of the trapper, they had ridden 
twenty miles since the commencement of their flight. The deli- 
cate frame of Inez began to droop under the excessive fatigue, 
nor was the more robust, but still feminine person of Ellen, 
insensible to the extraordinary effort she had made. Middleton 
himself was not sorry to repose, nor did the vigorous and high- 
spirited Paul hesitate to confess that he should be all the better 
for a little rest. The old man alone seemed indifferent to the 
usual claims of nature. Although but little accustomed to the 
unusual description of exercise he had just been taking, he 
appeared to bid defiance to all the usual attacks of human 
infirmities. Though evidently so near its dissolution, his attenu- 
ated frame still stood like the shaft of seasoned oak, dry, naked, 
and tempest-riven, but unbending and apparently indurated to 
the consistency of stone. On the present occasion he conducted 
the search for a resting-place, which was immediately commenced, 
with all the energy of youth, tempered by the discretion and 
experience of his great age. 

The bed of grass in which the doctor had been met, and in 


292 


THE PRAIRIE. 


which his ass had just been left, was followed a little distance 
until it was found that the rolling swells of the prairie were 
melting away into one vast level plain, that was covered, for 
miles on miles, with the same species of herbage. 

“ Ah, this may do, this may do,” said the old man, w 7 hen they 
arrived on the borders of this sea of withered grass. “ I know 
the spot, and often have I lain in its secret holes, for days at a 
time, while the savages have been hunting the buffaloes on the 
open ground. We must enter it with great care, for a broad 
trail might be seen, and Indian curiosity is a dangerous neighbor.” 

Leading the way himself, he selected a spot where the tall 
coarse herbage stood most erect, growing not unlike a bed of 
reeds, both in height and density. Here he entered, singly, 
directing the others to follow as nearly as possible in his own 
footsteps. When they had passed for some hundred or two 
feet into the wilderness of weeds, he gave his directions to Paul 
and Middleton, who continued a direct route deeper into the 
place, while he dismounted and returned on his tracks to the 
margin of the meadow. Here he passed many minutes in 
replacing the trodden grass, and in effacing, as far as possible, 
every evidence of their passage. 

In the meantime the rest of the party continued their pro- 
gress, not without toil, and consequently at a very moderate 
gait, until they had penetrated a mile into the place. Here 
they found a spot suited to their circumstances, and, dismounting, 
they began to make their dispositions to pass the remainder of 
the night. By this time the trapper had rejoined the party, 
and again resumed the direction of their proceedings. 

The weeds and grass were soon plucked and cut from an area 
of sufficient extent, and a bed for Inez and Ellen was speedily 
made, a little apart, which for sweetness and ease might have 
rivalled one of down. The exhausted females, after receiving 
some light refreshments from the provident stores of Paul and 
the old man, now sought their repose, leaving their more stout 
companions at liberty to provide for their own necessities. 
Middleton and Paul were not long in following the example of 


TIIE PRAIRIE. 


293 


their betrothed, leaving the trapper and the naturalist still seated 
around a savory dish of bison’s meat, which had been cooked at 
a previous halt, and which was, as usual, eaten cold. 

A certain lingering sensation, which had so long been upper- 
most in the mind of Obed, temporarily banished sleep ; and as 
for the old man, his wants were rendered, by habit and necessity, 
as seemingly subject to his will as if they altogether depended 
on the pleasure of the moment. Like his companion, he chose 
therefore to watch instead of sleeping. 

“ If the children of ease and security knew the hardships and 
dangers the students of nature encounter in their behalf,” said 
Obed, after a moment of silence when Middleton took his leave 
for the night, “ pillars of silver and statues of brass would be 
reared as the everlasting monuments of their glory !” 

“ I know not, I know not,” returned his companion ; “ silver 
is far from plenty, at least in the wilderness, and your brazen 
idols are forbidden in the commandments of the Lord.” 

“ Such indeed was the opinion of the great lawgiver of the 
Jews, but the Egyptians and the Chaldeans, the Greeks and the 
Romans, were wont to manifest their gratitude in these types 
of the human form. Indeed many of the illustrious masters of 
antiquity have, by the aid of science and skill, even outdone the 
works of nature, and exhibited a beauty and perfection in the 
human form that are difficult to be found in the rarest living 
specimens of any of the species ; genus homo.” 

“ Can your idols walk or speak, or have they the glorious gift 
of reason ?” demanded the trapper, with some indignation in 
his voice ; “ though but little given to run into the noise and 
chatter of the settlements, yet have I been into the towns in my 
day, to barter the peltry for lead and powder, and often have 
I seen your waxen dolls with their tawdry clothes and glass 
eyes ” 

“ Waxen dolls!” interrupted Obed; “it is profanation in the 
view of the arts to liken the miserable handy-work of the dealers 
in wax to the pure models of antiquity !” 

“ It is profanation in the eyes of the Lord,” retorted the old 


294 


THE PRAIRIE. 




man, “ to liken the works of his creatures to the power of his 
own hand.” 

“ Venerable Venator,” resumed the naturalist, clearing his 
throat like one who was much in earnest, “ let us discuss under- 
standing^ and in amity. You speak of the dross of ignorance, 
whereas my memory dwells on those precious jewels which it 
was my happy fortune formerly to witness among the treasured 
glories of the Old World.” 

“ Old World !” retorted the trapper, “ that is the miserable 
cry of all the half-starved miscreants that have come into this 
blessed land since the days of my boyhood ! They tell you of 
the Old World ; as if the Lord had not the power and the will 
to create the universe in a day, or as if he had not bestowed his 
gifts with an equal hand, though not with an equal mind, or 
equal wisdom, have they been received and used. Were they 
to say a worn out, and an abused , and a sacrilegious world, they 
might not be so far from the truth !” 

Doctor Battius, who found it quite as arduous a task to 
maintain any of his favorite positions with so irregular an anta- 
gonist, as he would have found it difficult to keep his feet within 
the hug of a western wrestler, hemmed aloud, and profited by 
the new opening the trapper had made, to shift the grounds of 
the discussion — 

“ By Old and New World, my excellent associate,” he said, 
“ it is not to be understood that the hills and the valleys, the 
rocks and the rivers of our own moiety of the earth do not, 
physically speaking, bear a date as ancient as the spot on which 
the bricks of Babylon are found; it merely signifies that its 
moral existence is not co-equal with its physical or geological 
formation.” 

“ Anan !” said the old man, looking up inquiringly into the 
face of the philosopher. 

“ Merely that it has not been so long known in morals, as the 
other countries of Christendom.” 

“ So much the better, so much the better. I am no great 
admirator of your old morals, as you call them, for I have ever 


THE PRAIRIE. 


295 


found, and I ha\ e lived long as it were in the very heart of natur*, 
that your old morals are none of the best. Mankind twist and 
turn the rules of the Lord, to suit their own wickedness, when 
their devilish cunning has had too much time to trifle with his 
commands.” 

“ Nay, venerable hunter, still am I not comprehended. By 
morals I do not mean the limited and literal signification of the 
term, such as is conveyed in its synonyme, morality, but the 
practices of men, as connected with their daily intercourse, their 
institutions, and their laws.” 

“ And such I call barefaced and downright wantonness and 
waste,” interrupted his sturdy disputant. 

“ Well, be it so,” returned the Doctor, abandoning the 
explanation in despair. “ Perhaps I have conceded too much,” 
he then instantly added, fancying that he still saw the glim- 
merings of an argument through another chink in the discourse. 
“ Perhaps I have conceded too much in saying that this hemi- 
sphere is literally as old in its formation, as that which embraces 
the venerable quarters of Europe, Asia, and Africa.” 

“ It is easy to say a pine is not so tall as an alder, but it would 
be hard to prove. Can you give a reason for such a belief?” 

“The reasons are numerous and powerful,” returned the 
Doctor, delighted by this encouraging opening. “Look into 
the plains of Egypt and Arabia ; their sandy deserts teem with 
the monuments of their antiquity : and then we have also 
recorded documents of their glory, doubling the proofs of their 
former greatness, now that they lie stripped of their fertility ; 
while we look in vain for similar evidences that man has ever 
reached the summit of civilization on this continent, or search, 
without our reward, for the path by which he has made the 
downward journey to his present condition of second childhood.” 

“ And what see you in all this ?” demanded the trapper, who, 
though a little confused by the terms of his companion, seized 
the thread of his ideas. 

“ A demonstration of my problem, that nature did not make 
so vast a region to lie an uninhabited waste so many agee. 


296 


THE PRAIRI E. 


This is merely the moral view of the subject ; as to the more 
exact and geological ” 

“ Your morals are exact enough for me,” returned the old man, 
“for I think I see in them the very 'pride of folly. I am but 
little gifted in the fables of what you call the Old World, seeing 
that my time has been mainly passed looking natur’ steadily in 
the face, and in reasoning on what I’ve seen rather than on 
what I’ve heard in traditions. But I have never shut my ears 
to the words of the good book, and many is the long winter 
evening that I have passed in the wigwams of the Delawares, 
listening to the good Moravians, as they dealt forth the history 
and doctrines of the elder times, to the people of the Lenape ! 
It was pleasant to hearken to such wisdom after a weary hunt ! 
Right pleasant did I find it, and often have I talked the matter 
over with the Great Serpent of the Delawares, in the more 
peaceful hours of our out-lyings, whether it might be on the 
trail of a war-party of the Mingoes, or on the watch for a York 
deer. I remember to have heard it, then and there, said, that 
the Blessed Land was once fertile as the bottoms of the Missis- 
sippi, and groaning with its stores of grain and fruits ; but that 
the judgment has since fallen upon it, and that it is now more 
remarkable for its barrenness than any qualities to boast of.” 

“ It is true ; but Egypt — nay much of Africa furnishes still 
more striking proofs of this exhaustion of nature.” 

“ Tell me,” interrupted the old man, “ is it a certain truth that 
buildings are still standing in that land of Pharaoh, which may 
be likened, in their stature, to the hills of the ’arth ?” 

“It is as true as that nature never refuses to bestow her 
incisores on the animals, mammalia ; genus, homo ” 

“ It is very marvellous ; and it proves how great He must be, 
when his miserable creatur’s can accomplish such wonders ! 
Many men must have been needed to finish such an edifice ; ay, 
and men gifted with strength and skill too ! Does the land 
abound with such a race to this hour ?” 

“ Far from it. Most of the country is a desert, and but for a 
mighty river all would be so.” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


297 


“ Yes ; rivers are rare gifts to such as till the ground, as any 
one may see who journeys far atween the Rocky Mountains and 
the Mississippi. But how do you account for these changes on 
the face of the ’arth itself, and for this downfall of nations, you 
men of the schools ?” 

“ It is to be ascribed to moral cau ” 

“ You’re right — it is their morals ; their wickedness and their 
pride, and chiefly their waste, that has done it all ! Now listen 
to what the experience of an old man teaches him. I have 
lived long, as these grey hairs and wrinkled hands will show, 
even though my tongue should fail in the wisdom of my years. 
And I have seen much of the folly of man ; for his natur’ is the 
same, be he born in the wilderness, or be he born in the towns. 
To my weak judgment it hath ever seemed that his gifts are 
not equal to his wishes. That he would mount into the heavens, 
with all his deformities about him, if he only knew the road, no 
one will gainsay, that witnesses his bitter strivings upon ’arth. 
If his power is not equal to his will, it is because the wisdom of 
the Lord hath set bounds to his evil workings.” 

“ It is much too certain that certain facts will warrant a theory, 
which teaches the natural depravity of the genus ; but if science 
could be fairly brought to bear on a whole species at once, for 
instance, education might eradicate the evil principle.” 

“ That, for your education ! The time has been when I have 
thought it possible to make a companion of a beast. Many are 
the cubs, and many are the speckled fawns that I have reared 
with these old hands, until I have even fancied them rational and 
altered beings — but what did it amount to ? the bear would bite, 
and the deer would run, notwithstanding my wicked conceit in 
fancying that I could change a temper that the Lord himself 
had seen fit to bestow. Now if man is so blinded in his folly as 
to go on, ages on ages, doing harm chiefly to himself, there is 
the same reason to think that he has wrought his evil here as in 
the countries you call so old. Look about you, man ; where 
are the multitudes that once peopled these prairies ; the kings 
and the palaces ; the riches and the mightinesses of this desert ?” 

13 * 


298 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ Where are the monuments that would prove the truth of so 
vague a theory ?” 

“ I know not what you call a monument.” 

“ The works of man ! The glories of Thebes, and Balbec — 
columns, catacombs, and pyramids ! standing amid the sands of 
the East, like wrecks on a rocky shore, to testify to the storms 
of ages !” 

“ They are gone. Time has lasted too long for them. For 
why ? Time was made by the Lord, and they were made by 
man. This very spot of reeds and grass, on which you now sit, 
may once have been the garden of some mighty king. It is the 
fate of all things to ripen, and then to decay. The tree 
blossoms, and bears its fruit, which falls, rots, withers, and even 
the seed is lost ! Go, count the rings of the oak and of the 
sycamore ; they lie in circles, one about another, until the eye 
is blinded in striving to make out their numbers ; and yet a full 
change of the seasons comes round while the stem is winding 
one of these little lines about itself, like the buffalo changing 
his coat, or the buck his horns ; and what does it all amount to ? 
There does the noble tree fill its place in the forest, loftier, and 
grander, and richer, and more difficult to imitate, than any of 
your pitiful pillars, for a thousand years, until the time which 
the Lord hath given it is full. Then come the winds, that you 
cannot see, to rive its bark ; and the waters from the heavens, 
to soften its pores ; and the rot, which all can feel and none can 
understand, to humble its pride and bring it to the ground. 
From that moment its beauty begins to perish. It lies another 
hundred years, a mouldering log, and then a mound of moss 
and ’arth ; a sad effigy of a human grave. This is one of your 
genuine monuments, though made by a very different power than 
such as belongs to your chiselling masonry ! and after all, the 
cunningest scout of the whole Dahcotah nation might pass his 
life in searching for the spot where it fell, and be no wiser when 
his eyes grew dim, than when they were first opened. As if 
that was not enough to convince man of his ignorance : and as 
though it were put there in mockery of his conceit, a pine shoots 


THE PRAIRIE. 


299 


up from the roots of the oak, just as barrenness comes after 
fertility, or as these wastes have been spread, where a garden 
may have been created. Tell me not of your worlds that are 
old ! it is blasphemous to set bounds and seasons, in this manner, 
to the works of the Almighty, like a woman counting the ages 
of her young.” 

“ Friend hunter, or trapper,” returned the naturalist, clearing 
his throat in some intellectual confusion at the vigorous attack 
of his companion, “your deductions, if admitted by the world, 
would sadly circumscribe the efforts of reason, and much abridge 
the boundaries of knowledge.” 

“ So much the better — so much the better ; for I have always 
found that a conceited man never knows content. All things 
prove it. Why have we not the wings of the pigeon, the eyes 
of the eagle, and the legs of the moose, if it had been intended 
that man should be equal to all his wishes ?” 

“There are certain physical defects, venerable trapper, in 
which I am always ready to admit great and happy alterations 
might be suggested. For example, in my own order of Pha- 
langacru ” 

“ Cruel enough would be the order that should come from 
miserable hands like thine ! A touch from such a finger would 
destroy the mocking deformity of a monkey ! Go, go ; human 
folly is not needed to fill up the great design of God. There is 
no stature, no beauty, no proportions, nor any colors in which 
man himself can well be fashioned, that is not already done to 
his hands.” 

“ That is touching another great and much disputed question,” 
exclaimed the Doctor, who seized upon every distinct idea that 
the ardent and somewhat dogmatic old man left exposed to his 
mental grasp, with the vain hope of inducing a logical discus- 
sion, in which he might bring his battery of syllogisms to 
annihilate the unscientific defences of his antagonist. 

It is, however, unnecessary to our narrative to relate the 
erratic discourse that ensued. The old man eluded the annihi- 
lating blows of his adversary, as the light armed soldier is wont 


300 


THE PRAIRIE. 


to escape the efforts of the more regular warrior, even while he 
annoys him most ; and an hour passed away without bringing 
any of the numerous subjects, on which they touched, to a 
satisfactory conclusion. The arguments acted, however, on the 
nervous system of the doctor, like so many soothing soporifics ; 
and by the time his aged companion was disposed to lay his 
head on his pack, Obed, refreshed by his recent mental joust, 
was in a condition to seek his natural rest, without enduring 
the torments of the incubus, in the shapes of Teton warriors and 
bloody tomahawks. 


THE FRAI RJE. 


301 


CHAPTER XXIII. 


“ Save you, sir.” Shakspeark. 


The sleep of the fugitives lasted for several hours. The 
trapper was the first to shake off its influence, as he had been 
the last to court its refreshment. Rising, just as the grey light 
of day began to brighten that portion of the studded vault 
which rested on the eastern margin of the plain, he summoned 
his companions from their warm lairs, and pointed out the 
necessity of their being once more on the alert. While Middle- 
ton attended to the arrangements necessary to the comforts of 
Inez and Ellen, in the long and painful journey which lay before 
them, the old man and Paul prepared the meal, which the 
former had advised them to take before they proceeded to 
horse. These several dispositions were not long in making, and 
the little group was soon seated about a repast which, though 
it might want the elegances to which the bride of Middleton 
had been accustomed, was not deficient in the more important 
requisites of savor and nutriment. 

“When we get lower into the hunting-grounds of the 
Pawnees,” said the trapper, laying a morsel of delicate venison 
before Inez, on a little trencher neatly made of horn, and 
expressly for his own use, “ we shall find the buffaloes fatter 
and sweeter, the deer in more abundance, and all the gifts of 
the Lord abounding to satisfy our wants. Perhaps we may 
even strike a beaver, and get a morsel from his tail* by way of 
a rare mouthful.” 


* The American hnnters consider the tail of the beaver the most nourishing of 
all food. 


302 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ What course do you mean to pursue, when you have once 
thrown these bloodhounds from the chase ?” demanded Mid- 
dleton. 

“If I might advise,” said Paul, “it would be to strike a 
water-course, and get upon its downward current as soon as 
may be. Give me a cotton-wood, and I will turn you out a 
canoe that shall carry us all, the jackass excepted, in perhaps 
the work of a day and a night. Ellen, here, is a lively girl 
enough, but then she is no great race-rider ; and it would be far 
more comfortable to boat six or eight hundred miles, than to go 
loping along like so many elks measuring the prairies ; besides, 
water leaves no trail.” 

“ I will not swear to that,” returned the trapper ; “ I have 
often thought the eyes of a Red-skin would find a trail in air.” 

“ See, Middleton,” exclaimed Inez, in a sudden burst of youth- 
ful pleasure, that caused her for a moment to forget her situa- 
tion, “ how lovely is that sky ; surely it contains a promise of 
happier times !” 

“ It is glorious !” returned her husband. “ Glorious and 
heavenly is that streak of vivid red, and here is a still brighter 
crimson ; rarely have I seen a richer rising of the sun.” 

“ Rising of the sun !” slowly repeated the old man, lifting his 
tall person from its seat with a deliberate and abstracted air, 
while he kept his eye riveted on the changing, and certainly 
beautiful tints, that were garnishing the vault of Heaven. 
“ Rising of the sun ! I like not such risings of the sun. Ah’s 
me ! the imps have circumvented us with a vengeance. The 
prairie is on fire !” 

“ God in Heaven protect us !” cried Middleton, catching Inez 
to his bosom, under the instant impression of the imminence of 
their danger. “ There is no time to lose, old man ; each instant 
is a day ; let us fly.” 

“ Whither ?” demanded the trapper, motioning him, with 
calmness and dignity, to arrest his steps. “ In this wilderness 
of grass and reeds, you are like a vessel in the broad lakes with- 
out a compass. A single step on the wrong course might prove 


THE PRAIRIE. 


303 


the destruction of us all. It is seldom danger is so pressing, 
that there is not time enough for reason to do its work, young 
officer ; therefore let us await its biddings.” 

“ For my own part,” said Paul Hover, looking about him 
with no equivocal expression of concern, “ I acknowledge, that 
should this dry bed of weeds get fairly in a flame, a bee would 
have to make a flight higher than common to prevent his wings 
from scorching. Therefore, old trapper, I agree with the 
captain, and say mount and run.” 

“Ye are wrong — ye are wrong ; man is not a beast to follow 
the gift of instinct, and to snuff up his knowledge by a taint in 
the air, or a rumbling in the sound ; but he must see and 
reason, and then conclude. So follow me a little to the left, 
where there is a rise in the ground, whence we may make our 
reconnoitrings.” 

The old man waved his hand with authority, and led the way 
without further parlance to the spot he had indicated, followed 
by the whole of his alarmed companions. An eye less practised 
than that of the trapper might have failed in discovering the 
gentle elevation to which he alluded, and which looked on the 
surface of the meadow like a growth a little taller than common. 
When they reached the place, however, .the stinted grass itself 
announced the absence of that moisture, which had fed the rank 
weeds of most of the plain, and furnished a clue to the evidence 
by which he had judged of the formation of the ground hidden 
beneath. Here a few minutes were lost in breaking down the 
tops of the surrounding herbage, which, notwithstanding the 
advantage of their position, rose even above the heads of Mid- 
dleton and Paul, and in obtaining a look-out that might com- 
mand a view of the surrounding sea of fire. 

The frightful prospect added nothing to the hopes of those 
who had so fearful a stake in the result. Although the day 
was beginning to dawn, the vivid colors of the sky continued to 
deepen, as if the fierce element were bent on an impious rivalry 
of the light of the sun. Bright flashes of flame shot up here 
and there, along the margin of the waste, like the nimble 


304 


THE PRAIRIE. 


coruscations of the North, but far more angry and threatening in 
their color and changes. The anxiety on the rigid features of 
the trapper sensibly deepened, as he leisurely traced these 
evidences of a conflagration, which spread in a broad belt about 
their place of refuge, until he had encircled the whole horizon. 

Shaking his head, as he again turned his face to the point 
where the danger seemed nighest and most rapidly approaching, 
the old man said — 

“ Now have we been cheating ourselves with the belief that 
we had thrown these Tetons from our trail, while here is proof 
enough that they not only know where we lie, but that they 
intend to smoke us out, like so many skulking beasts of prey. 
See ; they have lighted the fire around the whole bottom at the 
same moment, and we are as completely hemmed in by the 
devils as an island by its waters.” 

“ Let us mount and ride,” cried Middleton ; “ is life not worth 
a struggle ?” 

“ Whither would ye go ? Is a Teton horse a salamander that 
can walk amid fiery flames unhurt, or do you think the Lord 
will show his might in your behalf, as in the days of old, and 
carry you harmless through such a furnace as you may see 
glowing beneati yonder red sky ? There are Siouxes, too, hem- 
ming the fire with their arrows and knives on every side of us, 
or I am no judge of their murderous deviltries.” 

“We will ride into the centre of the whole tribe,” returned 
the youth fiercely, “ and put their manhood to the test.” 

“ Ay, it’s well in words, but what would it prove in deeds ? 
Here is a dealer in bees, who can teach you wisdom in a matter 
like this.” 

“ Now for that matter, old trapper,” said Paul, stretching his 
athletic form like a mastiff conscious of his strength, “ I am 
on the side of the captain, and am clearly for a race against the 
fire, though it line me into a Teton wigwam. Here is Ellen, 
who will ” 

“ Of what use, of what use are your stout hearts, when the 
elerrient of the Lord is to be conquered as well as human men. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


305 


Look about you, friends ; the wreath of smoke, that is rising 
from the bottoms, plainly says that there is no outlet from the 
spot, without crossing a belt of fire. Look for yourselves, my 
men ; look for yourselves ; if you can find a single opening, I 
will engage to follow.” 

The examination, which his companions so instantly and so 
intently made, rather served to assure them of their desperate 
situation, than to appease their fears. Huge columns of smoke 
were rolling up from the plain, and thickening in gloomy masses 
around the horizon ; the red glow which gleamed upon their 
enormous folds, now lighting their volumes with the glare of 
the conflagration, and now flashing to another point, as the 
flame beneath glided ahead, leaving all behind enveloped in 
awful darkness, and proclaiming louder than words the cha- 
racter of the imminent and approaching danger. 

“ This is terrible !” exclaimed Middleton, folding the trembling 
Inez to his heart. “ At such a time as this, and in such a 
manner ?” 

“ The gates of Heaven are open to all who truly believe,” 
murmured the pious devotee in his bosom. 

“ This resignation is maddening ! But we are men, and 
will make a struggle for our lives ! How now, my brave and 
spirited friend, shall w t c yet mount and push across the flames, 
or shall we stand here, and see those we most love perish in 
this frightful manner, without an effort ?” 

“ I am for a swarming time, and a flight before the hive is 
too hot to hold us,” said the bee-hunter, to whom it will be at 
once seen that Middleton addressed himself. “ Come, old 
trapper, you must acknowledge this is but a slow way of getting 
out of danger. If we tarry here much longer, it will be in the 
fashion that the bees lie around the straw after the hive has 
been smoked for its honey. You may hear the fire begin to 
roar already, and I know by experience, that when the flame 
once gets fairly into the prairie grass, it is no sloth that can 
outrun it.” 

“ Think you,” returned the old man, pointing scornfully at 


306 


THE PRAIRIE. 


the mazes of the dry and matted grass which environed them, 
“ that mortal feet can outstrip the speed of fire on such a path ! 
If I only knew now on which side these miscreants lay !” 

“ What say you, friend Doctor,” cried the bewildered Paul, 
turning to the naturalist with that sort of helplessness with 
which the strong are often apt to seek aid of the weak when 
human power is baffled by the hand of a mightier being, “ what 
say you ; have you no advice to give away in a case of life and 
death?” 

The naturalist stood, tablets in hand, looking at the awful 
spectacle with as much composure as if the conflagration had 
been lighted in order to solve the difficulties of some scientific 
problem. Aroused by the question of his companion, he turned 
to his equally calm though differently occupied associate, the 
trapper, demanding with the most provoking insensibility to the 
urgent nature of their situation — 

“Venerable hunter, you have often witnessed similar prisma- 
tic experiments ” 

He was rudely interrupted by Paul, who struck the tablets 
from his hands with a violence that betrayed the utter intellec- 
tual confusion which had overset the equanimity of his mind. 
Before time was allowed for remonstrance, the old man, who 
had continued during the whole scene like one much at a loss 
how to proceed, though also like one who was rather perplexed 
than alarmed, suddenly assumed a decided air, as if he no 
longer doubted on the course it was most advisable to pursue. 

“ It is time to be doing,” he said, interrupting the contro- 
versy that was about to ensue between the naturalist and the 
bee-hunter ; “ it is time to leave off books and moanings, and to 
be doing.” 

“ You have come to your recollections too late, miserable old 
man,” cried Middleton ; “ the flames are within a quarter of a 
mile of us, and the wind is bringing them down in this quarter 
with dreadful rapidity.” 

“ Anan ! the flames ! I care but little for the flames. If I 
only knew how to circumvent the cunning of the Tetons as I 


THE PRAIRIE. 


307 


know bow to cheat the fire of its prey, there would be nothing 
needed but thanks to the Lord for our deliverance. Do you 
call this a fire ? If you had seen what I have witnessed in the 
Eastern hills, when mighty mountains were like the furnace of 
a smith, you would have known what it was to fear the flames 
and to be thankful that you were spared ! Come, lads, come ; 
*tis time to be doing now, and to cease talking ; for yonder curling 
flame is truly coming on like a trotting moose. Put hands 
upon this short and withered grass where we stand, and lay 
bare the ’arth.” 

“ Would you think to deprive the fire of its victims in this 
childish manner ?” exclaimed Middleton. 

A faint but solemn smile passed over the features of the old 
man as he answered — 

“ Your gran’ther would have said, that when the enemy was 
nigh a soldier could do no better than to obey.” 

The captain felt the reproof, and instantly began to imitate 
the industry of Paul, who was tearing the decayed herbage 
from the ground in a sort of desperate compliance with the 
trapper’s direction. Even Ellen lent her hands to the labor, 
nor was it long before Inez was seen similarly employed, though 
none amongst them knew why or wherefore. When life is 
thought to be the reward of labor, men are wont to be indus- 
trious. A very few moments sufficed to lay bare a spot of some 
twenty feet in diameter. Into one edge of this little area the 
trapper brought the females, directing Middleton and Paul to 
cover their light and inflammable dresses with the blankets of 
the party. So soon as this precaution was observed, the old 
man approached the opposite margin of the grass which still 
environed them in a tall and dangerous circle, and selecting a 
handful of the driest of the herbage he placed it over the pan 
of his rifle. The light combustible kindled at the flash. Then 
he placed the little flame in a bed of the standing fog, and with- 
drawing from the spot to the centre of the ring, he patiently 
awaited the result. 

The subtle element seized with avidity upon its new fuel, and 


308 


THE PRAIRIE. 


in a moment forked flames were gliding among the grass, as 
the tongues of ruminating animals are seen rolling among their 
food, apparently in quest of its sweetest portions. 

“ Now,” said the old man, holding up a finger, and laughing 
in his peculiarly silent manner, “ you shall see fire fight fire ! 
Ah’s me ! many is the time I have burnt a smooty path, from 
wanton laziness to pick my way across a tangled bottom.” 

“ But is this not fatal ?” cried the amazed Middleton ; “ are 
you not bringing the enemy nigher to us instead of avoiding it ?” 

“ Do you scorch so easily ? your gran’tlier had a tougher skin. 
But we shall live to see ; we shall all live to see.” 

The experience of the trapper was in the right. As the fire 
gained strength and heat, it began to spread on three sides, 
dying of itself on the fourth, for want of aliment. As it increased, 
and the sullen roaring announced its power, it cleared everything 
before it, leaving the black and smoking soil far more naked 
than if the scythe had swept the place. The situation of the 
fugitives would have still been hazardous had not the area 
enlarged as the flame encircled them. But by advancing to the 
spot where the trapper had kindled the grass, they avoided the 
heat, and in a very few moments the flames began to recede in 
every quarter, leaving them enveloped in a cloud of smoke, but 
perfectly safe from the torrent of fire that was still furiously 
rolling onwards. 

The spectators regarded the simple expedient of the trapper, 
with that species of wonder with which the courtiers of Ferdi- 
nand are said to have viewed the manner in which Columbus 
made his egg stand on its end, though with feelings that were 
filled with gratitude instead of envy. 

“ Most wonderful !” said Middleton, when he saw the complete 
success of the means by which they had been rescued from a 
danger that he had conceived to be unavoidable. “ The thought 
was a gift from Heaven, and the hand that executed it should 
be immortal !” 

“ Did trapper,” cried Paul, thrusting his fingers through his 
shaggj locks, “ I have lined many a loaded bee into his hole, 


THE PRAIRIE. 


309 


and know something of the nature of the woods, hut this is 
robbing a hornet of his sting without touching the insect !” 

“ It will do — it will do,” returned the old man, who after the 
first moment of his success seemed to think no more of the 
exploit ; “ now get the horses in readiness. Let the flames do 
their work for a short half hour, and then we will mount. That 
time is needed to cool the meadow, for these unshod Teton beasts 
are as tender on the hoof as a barefooted girl.” 

Middleton and Paul, who considered this unlooked-for escape 
as a species of resurrection, patiently awaited the time the 
trapper mentioned with renewed confidence in the infallibility of 
his judgment. The Doctor regained his tablets, a little the 
worse from having fallen among the grass which had been 
subject to the action of the flames, and was consoling himself 
for this slight misfortune by recording uninterruptedly such 
different vacillations in light and shadow as he chose to consider 
phenomena. 

In the meantime the veteran, on whose experience they all 
so implicitly relied for protection, employed himself in recon- 
noitring objects in the distance, through the openings which the 
air occasionally made in the immense bodies of smoke, that 
by this time lay in enormous piles on every part of the 
plain. 

“Look you here, lads,” the trapper said, after a long and 
anxious examination, “ your eyes are young and may prove 
better than my worthless sight — though the time has been, 
when a wise and brave people saw reason to think me quick on 
a look-out; but those times are gone, and many a true and 
tried friend has passed away with them. Ah’s me ! if I could 
choose a change in the orderings of Providence — which I cannot, 
and which it would be blasphemy to attempt, seeing that all 
things are governed by a wiser mind than belongs to mortal 
weakness — but if I were to choose a change, it would be to say, 
that such as they who have lived long together in friendship and 
kindness, and who have proved their fitness to go in company, 
by many acts of suffering and daring in each other’s behalf, 


310 


THE PRAIRIE. 


should be permitted to give up life at such times, as when the 
death of one leaves the other but little reason to live.” 

“Is it an Indian that you see ?” demanded the impatient 
Middleton. 

“ Red-skin or White-skin, it is much the same. Friendship 
and use can tie men as strongly together in the woods as in the 
towns — ay, and for that matter, stronger. Here are the young 
warriors of the prairies. Often do they sort themselves in 
pairs, and set apart their lives for deeds of friendship ; and well 
and truly do they act up to their promises. The death-blow to 
one is commonly mortal to the other ! I have been a solitary 
man much of my time, if he can be called solitary who has 
lived for seventy years in the very bosom of natur’, and where 
he could at any instant open his heart to God, without having 
to strip it of the cares and wickednesses of the settlements — but 
making that allowance, have I been a solitary man ; and yet 
have I always found that intercourse with my kind was pleasant, 
and painful to break off, provided that the companion was brave 
and honest. Brave, because a skeary comrade in the woods,” 
suffering his eyes inadvertently to rest a moment on the person 
of the abstracted naturalist, “ is apt to make a short path long ; 
and honest, inasmuch as craftiness is rather an instinct of the 
brutes, than a gift becoming the reason of a human man.” 

“ But the object that you saw— was it a Sioux ?” 

“ What the world of America is coming to, and where the 
machinations and inventions of its people are to have an end, 
the Lord, he only knows. I have seen in my day, the chief 
who, in his time, had beheld the first Christian that placed his 
wicked foot in the regions of York ! How much has the beauty 
of the wilderness been deformed in two short lives ! My own 
eyes were first opened on the shores of the Eastern sea, and 
w 7 ell do I remember that I tried the virtues of the first rifle I 
ever bore, after such a march, from the door of my father to the 
forest, as a stripling could make between sun and sun ; and that 
without offence to the rights or prejudices of any man who set 
himself up to be the owner of the beasts of the fields. Natur’ 


THE PRAIRIE. 


311 


then lay in its glory along the whole coast, giving a narrow 
stripe, between the woods and the ocean, to the greediness of 
the settlers; And where am I now ? Had I the wings of an 
eagle, they would tire before a tenth of the distance, which 
separates me from that sea, could be passed ; and towns and 
villages, farms and highways, churches and schools, in short, 
all the inventions and deviltries of man, are spread across the 
region. I have known the time when a few Red-skins, shouting 
along the borders, could set the provinces in a fever ; and men 
were to be armed ; and troops were to be called to aid from a 
distant land ; and prayers were said, and the women frighted, 
and few slept in quiet, because the Iroquois were on the war- 
path, or the accursed Mingo had the tomahawk in hand. How 
is it now ? The country sends out her ships to foreign lands, to 
wage their battles ; cannon are plentier than the rifle used to 
be ; and trained soldiers are never wanting, in tens of thousands, 
when need calls for their services. Such is the difference atween 
a province and a state, my men ; and I, miserable and worn out 
as I seem, have lived to see it all !” 

“ That you must have seen many a chopper skimming the 
cream from the face of the earth, and many a settler getting the 
very honey of nature, old trapper,” said Paul, “ no reasonable 
man can, or, for that matter, shall doubt. But here is Ellen 
getting uneasy about the Siouxes, and now you have opened 
your mind so freely concerning these matters, if you will just 
put us on the line of our flight, the swarm will make another 
move.” 

“ An an !” 

“I say that Ellen is getting uneasy; and as the smoke is 
lifting from the plain, it may be prudent to take another flight.” 

“The boy is reasonable. I had forgotten we were in the 
midst of a raging fire, and that Siouxes were round about us 
like hungry wolves watching a drove of buffaloes. But when 
memory is at work in my old brain, on times long past, it is apt 
to overlook the matters of the day. You say right, my children ; 
it is time to be moving, and now comes the real nicety of our 


312 


THE PRAIRIE. 


case. It is easy to outwit a furnace, for it is nothing but a 
raging element ; and it is not always difficult to throw a grizzly 
bear from his scent, for the creatur’ is both enlightened and 
blinded by his instinct ; but to shut the eyes of a waking Teton is 
a matter of greater judgment, inasmuch as his deviltry is backed 
by reason.” 

Notwithstanding the old man appeared so conscious of the 
difficulty of the undertaking, he set about its achievement with 
great steadiness and alacrity. After completing the examina- 
tion, which had been interrupted by the melancholy wanderings 
of his mind, he gave the signal to his companions to mount. 
The horses, which had continued passive and trembling amid 
the raging of the fire, received their burdens with a satisfaction 
so very evident, as to furnish a favorable augury of their future 
industry. The trapper invited the Doctor to take his own steed, 
declaring his intention to proceed on foot. 

“ I am but little used to journeying with the feet of others,” 
he added, as a reason for the measure, “ and my legs are a 
weary of doing nothing. Besides, should we light suddenly on 
an ambushment, which is a thing far from impossible, the horse 
will be in a better condition for a hard run with one man on his 
back than with two. As for me, what matters it whether my 
time is to be a day shorter or a day longer ! Let the Tetons 
take my scalp, if it be God’s pleasure : they will find it covered 
with grey hairs ; and it is beyond the craft of man to cheat me 
of the knowledge and experience by which they have been 
whitened.” 

As no one among the impatient listeners seemed disposed to 
dispute the arrangement, it was acceded to in silence. The 
Doctor, though he muttered a few mourning exclamations on 
behalf of the lost Asinus, was by far too well pleased in finding 
that his speed was likely to be sustained by four legs instead of 
two, to be long in complying ; and, consequently, in a very few 
moments the bee-hunter, who was never last to speak on such 
occasions, vociferously announced that they were ready to 


THE I* It A I R I E . 


313 


“ Now look off yonder to the East,” said the old man, as he 
began to lead the way across the murky and still smoking plain ; 
“ little fear of cold feet in journeying such a path as this : but 
look you off to the East, and if you see a sheet of shining white, 
glistening like a plate of beaten silver through the openings of 
the smoke, why that is water. A noble stream is running 
thereaway, and I thought I got a glimpse of it a while since ; 
but other thoughts came, and I lost it. It is a broad and swift 
river, such as the Lord has made many of its fellows in this 
desert. For here may natur’ be seen in all its richness, trees 
alone excepted. Trees, which are to the ’arth, as fruits are to a 
garden ; without them nothing can be pleasant, or thoroughly 
useful. Now watch all of you, with open eyes, for that stripe of 
glittering water : we shall not be safe until it is flowing between 
our trail and these sharp-sighted Tetons.” 

The latter declaration was enough to insure a vigilant look- 
out for the desired stream, on the part of all the trapper’s fol- 
lowers. With this object in view, the party proceeded in 
profound silence, the old man having admonished them of the 
necessity of caution, as they entered the clouds of smoke, which 
were rolling like masses of fog along the plain, more particularly 
over those spots where the fire had encountered occasional pools 
of stagnant water. 

They travelled near a league in this manner, without obtain- 
ing the desired glimpse of the river. The fire was still raging 
in the distance, and as the air swept away the first vapor of the 
conflagration, fresh volumes rolled along the place, limiting the 
view. At length the old man, who had begun to betray some 
little uneasiness, which caused his followers to apprehend that 
even his acute faculties were beginning to be confused, in the 
mazes of the smoke, made a sudden pause, and dropping his 
rifle to the ground, he stood, apparently musing over some object 
at his feet. Middleton and the rest rode up to his side, and 
demanded the reason of the halt. 

“ Look ye here,” returned the trapper, pointing to the muti- 
lated carcase of a horse, that lay more than half consumed in a 

14 


314 


THE PRAIRIE. 


little hollow of the ground ; “ here may you see the power of a 
prairie conflagration. The ’arth is moist, hereaway, and the 
grass has been taller than usual. This miserable beast has been 
caught in his bed. You see the bones ; the crackling and 
scorched hide, and the grinning teeth. A thousand winters 
could not wither an animal so thoroughly as the element has 
done it in a minute.” 

“ And this might have been our fate,” said Middleton, “ had 
the flames come upon us in our sleep !” 

“ Nay, I do not say that, I do not say that. Not but that 
man will burn as well as tinder ; but, that being more reasoning 
than a horse, he would better know how to avoid the danger.” 

“ Perhaps this, then, has been but the carcase of an animal, 
or he too would have fled ?” 

“ See you these marks in the damp soil ? Here have been 
his hoofs, and there is a moccasin print, as I’m a sinner! 
The owner of the beast has tried hard to move him from the 
place, but it is in the instinct of the creatur’ to be faint-hearted 
and obstinate in a fire.” 

“ It is a well known fact. But if the animal has had a rider, 
where is he ?” 

“Ay, therein lies the mystery ,” returned the trapper, stooping 
to examine the signs in the ground with a closer eye. “ Ye?, 
yes, it is plain there has been a long struggle atween the two. 
The master has tried hard to save his beast, and the flames 
must have been very greedy, or he would have had better 
success.” 

“ Harkee, old trapper,” interrupted Paul, pointing to a little 
distance, where the ground was drier, and the herbage had, in 
consequence, been less luxuriant ; “just call them two horses. 
Yonder lies another.” 

“ The boy is right ! can it be that the Tetons have been 
caught in their own snares? Such things do happen; and 
here is an example to all evil-doers. Ay, look you here, this is 
iron ; there have been some white inventions about the trap- 
pings of the beast — it must be so — it must be so — a party of 


THE PRAIRIE. 


315 


the knaves have been skirting in the grass after us, while their 
friends have fired the prairie, and look you at the consequences ; 
they have lost their beasts, and happy have they been if their 
own souls are not now skirting along the path which leads to 
the Indian heaven.” 9 

“ They had the same expedient at command as yourself,” 
rejoined Middleton, as the party slowly proceeded, approaching 
the other carcase which lay directly on their route. 

“ I know not that. It is not every savage that carries his 
steel and flint, or as good a rifle-pan as this old friend of mine. 
It is slow making a fire with two sticks, and little time was 
given to consider or invent, just at this spot, as you may see 
by yon streak of flame, which is flashing along afore the wind, 
as if it were on a trail of powder. It is not many minutes since 
the fire has passed here away, and it may be well to look at 
our primings ; not that I would willingly combat the Tetons, 
God forbid ! but if a fight needs be, it is always wise to get the 
first shot.” 

“ This has been a strange beast, old man,” said Paul, who 
had pulled the bridle, or rather halter of his steed, over the 
second carcase, while the rest of the party were already passing, 
in their eagerness to proceed ; “ a strange horse do I call it ; it 
had neither head nor hoofs !” 

“ The fire has not been idle,” returned the trapper, keeping 
his eye vigilantly employed in profiting by those glimpses of the 
horizon, which the whirling smoke offered to his examination. 
“ It would soon bake you a buffalo whole, or for that matter 
powder his hoofs and horns into white ashes. Shame, shame, 
old Hector ; as for the captain’s pup, it is to be expected that he 
would show his want of years, and I may say, I hope without 
offence, his want of education too ; but for a hound, like you, 
who have lived so long in the forest afore you came into 
these plains, it is very disgraceful, Hector, to be showing your 
teeth, and growling at the carcase of a roasted horse, the same as 
if you were telling your master that you had found the trail of a 
grizzly bear.” 


31 G 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ I tell you, old trapper, this is no horse : neither in hoofs, 
head, nor hide.” 

“ Anan ! Not a horse ? your eyes are good for the bees and 
for the hollow trees, my lad, but — bless me, the boy is right ! 
That I should mistake the kid£ of a buffalo, scorched and 
crimpled as it is, for the carcase of a horse ! Ah’s me ! The 
time has been, my men, when I would tell you the name of a 
beast, as far as eye could reach, and that too with most of the 
particulars of color, age, and sex.” 

“An inestimable advantage have you then enjoyed, venerable 
Venator!” observed the attentive naturalist. “The man who 
can make these distinctions in a desert, is saved the pain of many 
a weary walk, and often of an inquiry that in its result proves 
useless. Pray tell me, did your exceeding excellence of vision 
extend so far as to enable you to decide on their order or genus 

“ I know not what you mean by your orders of genius.” 

“ No !” interrupted the bee-hunter, a little disdainfully for 
him, when speaking to his aged friend ; “ now, old trapper, that 
is admitting your ignorance of the English language, in a way 
I should not expect from a man of your experience and under- 
standing. By order, our comrade means whether they go in 
promiscuous droves, like a swarm that is following its queen-bee, 
or in single file, as you often see the buffaloes trailing each 
other through a prairie. And as for genius, I’m sure that is a 
work well understood, and in everybody’s mouth. There is the 
congress-man in our district, and that tonguey little fellow who 
puts out the paper in our country, they are both so called, for 
their smartness ; which is what the Doctor means, as I take it, 
seeing that he seldom speaks without some considerable 
meaning.” 

When Paul finished this very clever explanation he looked 
behind him with an expression, which, rightly interpreted, 
would have said — “You see, though I don’t often trouble 
myself in these matters, I am no fool.” 

Ellen admired Paul for anything but his learning. There 
was enough in his "frank, fearless, and manly character, backed 


THE PRAIRIE. 


317 


as it was by great personal attraction, to awaken her sympa- 
thies, without the necessity of prying into his mental attain- 
ments. The poor girl reddened like a rose, her pretty fingers 
played with the belt by which she sustained herself on the 
horse, and she hurriedly observed, as if anxious to direct the 
attentions of the other listeners from a weakness on which her 
own thoughts could not bear to dwell — 

“ And this is not a horse, after all 3” 

“ It is nothing more nor less than the hide of a buffalo,” 
continued the trapper, who had been no less puzzled by the 
explanation of Paul than by the language of the Doctor ; “ the 
hair is beneath ; the fire has run over it as you see ; for being 
fresh, the flames could take no hold. The beast has not been 
long killed, and it may be that some of the beef is still 
hereaway.” 

“ Lift the corner of the skin, old trapper,” said Paul, with the 
tone of one who felt as if he had now proved his right to 
mingle his voice in any council ; “ if there is a morsel of the 
hump left, it must be well cooked, and it shall be welcome.” 

The old man laughed heartily at the conceit of his companion. 
Thrusting his foot beneath the skin, it moved. Then it was 
suddenly cast aside, and an Indian warrior sprang from its 
cover to his feet, with an agility that bespoke how urgent lie 
deemed the occasion. 


318 


THE PRAIRIE. 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

“ I would it were bed-time, Hal, and all well’’ 

Shakspeare. 

A second glance sufficed to convince the whole of the 
startled party, that the young Pawnee, whom they had already 
encountered, again stood before them. Surprise kept both 
sides mute, and more than a minute was passed in surveying 
each other with eyes of astonishment, if not of distrust. The 
wonder of the young warrior was, however, much more 
tempered and dignified than that of his Christian acquaintances. 
While Middleton and Paul felt the tremor which shook the 
persons of their dependent companions, thrilling through their 
own quickened blood, the glowing eye of the Indian rolled from 
one to another, as if it could never quail before the rudest 
assaults. His gaze, after making the circuit of every wondering 
countenance, finally settled in a steady look on the equally 
immovable features of the trapper. The silence was first 
broken by Dr. Battius, in the ejaculation of — 

“ Order, primates ; genus , homo; . species , prairie !” 

“ Ay — ay — the secret is out,” said the old trapper, shaking 
his head, like one who congratulated himself on having 
mastered the mystery of some knotty difficult} T . “ The lad has 
been in the grass for a cover ; the fire has come upon him in 
his sleep, and having lost his horse, he has been driven to save 
himself under that fresh hide of a buffalo. No bad invention, 
when powder and flint were wanting to kindle a ring. I 
warrant me, now, this is a clever youth, and one that it would 
be safe to journey with! I will speak to him kindly, for anger 
can at least serve no turn of ours. My brother is welcome 
again,” using the language which the other understood ; “ the 
Tetons have been smoking him, as they would a racoon.” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


319 


The young Pawnee rolled his eye over the place, as if he were 
examining the terrific danger from which he had just escaped, 
but he disdained to betray the smallest emotion at its immi- 
nency. His brow contracted as he answered to the remark of 
the trapper by saying — 

“ A Teton is a dog. When the Pawnee war-whoop is in their 
ears, the whole nation howls.” 

“ It is true. The imps are on our trail, and I am glad to 
meet a warrior, with the tomahawk in his hand, who does not 
love them. Will my brother lead my children to his village ? 
If the Siouxes follow on our path my young men shall help him 
to strike them.” 

The young Pawnee turned his eyes from one to another of 
the strangers, in a keen scrutiny, before he saw fit to answer so 
important an interrogatory. His examination of the males was 
short, and apparently satisfactory. But his gaze was fastened 
long and admiringly, as in their former interview, on the sur- 
passing and unwonted beauty of a being so fair and so unknown 
as Inez. Though his glance wandered, for moments, from her 
countenance to the more intelligible and yet extraordinary 
charms of Ellen, it did not fail to return promptly to the study 
of a creature who, in the view of his unpractised eye and 
untutored imagination, was formed with all that perfection with 
which the youthful poet is apt to endow the glowing images of 
his brain. Nothing so fair, so ideal, so every way worthy to 
reward the courage and self-devotion of a warrior, had ever 
before been encountered on the prairies, and the young brave 
appeared to be deeply and intuitively sensible to the influence 
of so rare a model of the loveliness of the sex. Perceiving, how- 
ever, that his gaze gave uneasiness to the subject of his admira- 
tion, he withdrew his eyes, and laying his hand impressively on 
his chest he modestly answered — 

“ My father shall be welcome. The young men of my nation 
shall hunt with his sons ; the chiefs shall smoke with the grey- 
head. The Pawnee girls will sing in the ears of his daughters.” 

“ And if we meet the Tetons ?” demanded the trapper, who 


320 


THE PRAIRIE. 


wished to understand, thoroughly, the more important condi- 
tions of this new alliance. 

“The enemy of the Big-knives shall feel the blow of the 
Pawnee.” 

u It is well. Now let my brother and I meet in council, that 
we may not go on a crooked path, but that our road to his 
village may be like the flight of the pigeons. ” 

The young Pawnee made a significant gesture of assent, and 
followed the other a little apart, in order to be removed from all 
danger of interruption from the reckless Paul, or the abstracted 
naturalist. Their conference was short, but, as it was conducted 
in the sententious manner of the natives, it served to make each 
of the parties acquainted with all the necessary information of 
the other. When they rejoined their associates, the old man 
saw fit to explain a portion of what had passed between them 
as follows — 

“ Ay, I was not mistaken,” he said ; “ this good-looking 
young warrior — for good-looking and noble-looking he is, though 
a little horrified perhaps with paint — this good-looking youth, 
then, tells me he is out on the scout for these very Tetons. His 
party was not strong enough to strike the devils, who are down 
from their towns in great numbers to hunt the buffalo, and 
runners have gone to the Pawnee villages for aid. It would 
seem that this lad is a fearless boy, for he has been hanging on 
their skirts alone, until, like ourselves, he was driven to the 
grass for a cover. But he tells me more, my men, and what I 
am mainly sorry to hear, which is, that the cunning Mahtoree, 
instead of going to blows with the squatter, has become his 
friend, and that both broods, red and white, are on our heels, 
and outlying around this very burning plain to circumvent us 
to our destruction.” 

“ How knows he all this to be true ?” demanded Middleton. 

“ An an !” 

“ In what manner does he know that these things are so ?” 

“ In what manner ! Do you think newspapers and town criers 
are needed to tell a scout what is doing on the prairies, as they 


THE PRAIRIE. 


321 


are in the bosom of the States ? No gossiping woman, who 
hurries from house to house to spread evil of her neighbor, can 
carry tidings with her tongue so fast as these people will spread 
their meaning, by signs and warnings that they alone under- 
stand. ’Tis their Taming, and what is better, it is got in the 
open air, and not within the walls of a school. I tell you, 
captain, that what he says is true.” 

“ For that matter,” said Paul, “ I’m ready to swear to it. It 
is reasonable, and therefore it must be true.” 

“ And well you might, lad ; well you might. He further- 
more declares, that my old eyes for once were true to me, and 
that the river lies, hereaway, at about the distance of half a 
league. You see the fire has done most of its work in that 
quarter, and our path is clouded in smoke. He also agrees that 
it is needful to wash our trail in water. Yes, we must put that 
river atween us and the Sioux eyes, and then, by the favor of 
the Lord, not forgetting our own industry, we may gain the 
village of the Loups.” 

“ Words will not forward us a foot,” said Middleton ; “ let us 
move.” 

The old man assented, and the party once more prepared to 
renew its route. The Pawnee threw the skin of the buffalo 
over his shoulder and led the advance, casting many a. stolen 
glance behind him as he proceeded, in order to fix his gaze on 
the extraordinary and, to him, unaccountable loveliness of the 
unconscious Inez. 

An hour sufficed to bring the fugitives to the bank of the 
stream, which was one of the hundred rivers that serve to con- 
duct, through the mighty arteries of the Missouri and Mississippi, 
the waters of that vast and still uninhabited region to the Ocean. 
The river was not deep, but its current was troubled and rapid. 

The flames had scorched the earth to its very margin, and as 
the warm streams of the fluid mingled, in the cooler air of the 
morning, with the smoke of the raging conflagration, most of its 
surface was wrapped in a mantle of moving vapor. The trapper 
pointed out the circumstance with pleasure, saying, as he 
14 * 


322 


THE PRAIRIE . 


assisted Inez to dismount on the margin of the water- 
course : — 

“ The knaves have outwitted themselves ! I am far from cer- 
tain that I should not have fired the prairie, to have got the 
benefit of this very smoke to hide our movements, had not the 
heartless imps saved us the trouble. I’ve known such things 
done in my day, and done with success. Come, lady, put your 
tender foot upon the ground — for a fearful time has it been to 
one of your breeding and skeary qualities. Ah’s me ! what 
have I not known the young, and the delicate, and the virtuous, 
and the modest, to undergo, in my time, among the horrifica- 
tions and circumventions of Indian warfare ! Come, it is a short 
quarter of a mile to the other bank, and then our trail, at least, 
will be broken.” 

Paul had by this time assisted Ellen to dismount, and he now 
stood looking, with rueful eyes, at the naked banks of the river. 
Neither tree nor shrub grew along its borders, with the exception 
of here and there a solitary thicket of low bushes, from among 
which it would not have been an easy matter to have found 
a dozen stems of a size sufficient to make an ordinary walking- 
stick. 

“ Harkee, old trapper,” the moody-looking bee-hunter ex- 
claimed ; “ it is very well to talk of the other side of this ripple 
of a river, or brook, or whatever you may call it, but in my 
judgment it would be a smart rifle that would throw its lead 
across it — that is, to any detriment to Indian or deer.” 

“ That it would — that it would ; though I carry a piece, here, 
that has done its work in time of need, at as great a distance.” 

“ And do you mean to shoot Ellen and the Captain’s lady 
across ; or do you intend them to go, trout fashion, with their 
mouths under water ?” 

“ Is this river too deep to be forded ? ” asked Middleton, 
who, like Paul, began to consider the impossibility of trans- 
porting her, whose safety he valued more than his own, to 
the opposite shore. 

“ When the mountains above feed it with their torrents, it is, 


1’ II E PRAIRIE. 


323 


as you see, a swift and powerful stream. Yet have I crossed its 
sandy bed, in my time, without wetting a knee. But we have the 
Sioux horses ; I warrant me that the kicking imps will swim 
like so many deer.” 

u Old trapper,” said Paul, thrusting his fingers into his mop 
of a head, as was usual with him, when any difficulty con- - 
founded his philosophy, ‘ 4 1 have swum like a fish in my day, 
and I can do it again, when there is need ; nor do I much 
regard the weather ; but I question if you get Nelly to sit a 
horse, with this water whirling like a mill-race before her 
eyes ; besides it is manifest the thing is not to be done dry 
shod.” 

“ Ah, the lad is right. We must to our inventions, there- 
fore, or the river cannot be crossed.” Then cutting the 
discourse short, he turned to the Pawnee, and explained to him 
the difficulty which existed in relation to the women. The 
young warrior listened gravely, and throwing the buffalo-skin 
from his shoulder, he immediately commenced, assisted by the 
occasional aid of the understanding old man, the preparations 
necessary to effect this desirable object. 

The hide was soon drawn into the shape of an umbrella top, 
or an inverted parachute, by thongs of deer-skin, with which 
both the laborers were well provided. A few light sticks served 
to keep the parts from collapsing, or falling in. When this 
simple and natural expedient was arranged, it was placed on 
the water, the Indian making a sign that it was ready to 
receive its freight. Both Inez and Ellen hesitated to trust 
themselves in a bark of so frail a construction, nor would 
Middleton or Paul consent that they should do so, until each 
had assured himself, by actual experiment, that tho vessel was 
capable of sustaining a load much heavier than it was destined 
to receive. Then, indeed, their scruples were reluctantly over- 
come, and the skin was made to receive its precious burden. 

“ Now leave the Pawnee to be the pilot,” said the trapper ; 

“ my hand is not so steady as it used to be ; but he has limbs 
like toughened hickory. Leave all to the wisdom of the Pawnee.” 


324 


THE PRAIRIE. 


The husband and lover could not well do otherwise, and they 
were fain to become deeply interested, it is true, but passive 
spectators of this primitive species of ferrying. The Pawnee 
selected the beast of Mahtoree from among the three horses, 
with a readiness that proved he was far from being ignorant 
of the properties of that noble animal, and throwing himself 
upon its back, ho rode into the margin of the river. Thrusting 
an end of his lance into the hide, he bore the light vessel up 
against the stream, and giving his steed the rein, they pushed 
boldly into the current. Middleton and Paul followed, pressing 
as nigh the bark as prudence would at all warrant. In this 
manner the young warrior bore his precious cargo to the 
opposite bank in perfect safety, without the slightest incon- 
venience to the passengers, and with a steadiness and celerity 
which proved that both horse and rider were not unused to the 
operation. When the shore was gained, the young Indian 
undid his work, threw the skin over his shoulder, placed the 
sticks under his arm, and returned, without speaking, to transfer 
the remainder of the party in a similar manner, to what was 
very justly considered the safer side of the river. 

“ Now, friend Doctor,” said the old man, when he saw the 
Indian plunging into the river a second time, “ do I know there 
is faith in yonder Red-skin. He is a good looking, ay, and an 
honest looking youth, but the winds of Heaven are not more 
deceitful than these savages, when the devil has fairly beset 
them. Had the Pawnee been a Teton, or one of them heart- 
less Mingoes that used to be prowling through the woods of 
York, a time back, that is, some sixty years ago ne, we should 
have seen his back and not his face turned towards us. My 
heart had its misgivings when I saw the lad choose the better 
horse, for it would be as easy to leave us with that beast, as it 
would for a nimble pigeon to part company from a flock of 
noisy and heavy winged crows. But you see that truth is in 
the boy, and make a Red-skin once your friend, he is yours so 
long as you deal honestly by him.” 

“What may be the distance to the sources of this stream 


THE PRAIRIE. 


325 


demanded Doctor Battius, whose eyes were rolling over the 
whirling eddies of the current, with a very portentous expres- 
sion of doubt. “ At what distauce may its secret springs be 
found ?” 

“ That may be as the weather proves. I warrant me your 
legs would be a-weary before you had followed its bed into the 
Rocky Mountains ; but then there are seasons when it might be 
done without wetting a foot.” 

“And in what particular divisions of the year do these 
periodical seasons occur ?” 

“ He that passes this spot a few T months from this time, will 
find that foaming water-course a desert of drifting sand.” 

The naturalist pondered deeply. Like most others who are 
not endowed with a superfluity of physical fortitude, the worthy 
man had found the danger of passing the river, in so simple a 
manner, magnifying itself in his eyes so rapidly, as the moment 
of adventure approached, that he actually contemplated the 
desperate effort of going round the river in order to escape the 
hazard of crossing it. It may not be necessary to dwell on the 
incredible ingenuity with which terror will at any time prop a 
tottering argument. The worthy Obed had gone over the whole 
subject with commendable diligence, and had just arrived at the 
consoling conclusion, that there was nearly as much glory in 
discerning the hidden sources of so considerable a stream, as in 
adding a plant or an insect to the lists of the learned, when the 
Pawnee reached the shore for the second time. The old man 
took his seat with the utmost deliberation, in the vessel of skin 
(so soon as it had been duly arranged for his reception), and 
having carefully disposed of Hector between his legs, he beckoned 
to his companion to occupy the third place. 

The naturalist placed a foot in the frail vessel, as an elephant 
will try a bridge, or a horse is often seen to make a similar 
experiment before he will trust the whole of his corporeal trea- 
sure on the dreaded flat, and then withdrew just as the old man 
believed he was about to seat himself. 

“Venerable Venator,” he said, mournfully, “this is a most 


32(5 


THE PRAIRIE. 


unscientific bark. There is an inward monitor which bids me 
distrust its security I’ 1 

“ Anan !” said the old man, who was pinching the ears of the 
hound, as a father would play with the same member in a 
favorite child. 

“I incline not to this irregular mode of experimenting on 
fluids. The vessel has neither form nor proportions.” 

“ It is not as handsomely turned as I have seen a canoe in 
birchen bark, but comfort may be taken in a wigwam as well as 
in a palace.” 

“ It is impossible that any vessel constructed on principles so 
repugnant to science can be safe. This tub, venerable hunter, 
will never reach the opposite shore in safety.” 

“ You are a witness of what it has done.” 

“ Ay ; but it was an anomaly in prosperity. If exceptions 
were to be taken as rules in the government of things, the human 
race would speedily be plunged in the abysses of ignorance. 
Venerable trapper, this expedient in which you would repose 
your safety, is, in the annals of regular inventions, what a lusus 
naturce may be termed in the lists of natural history — a 
monster 1” 

How much longer Doctor Battius might have felt disposed to 
prolong the discourse it is difficult to say, for in addition to the 
powerful personal considerations which induced him to procras- 
tinate an experiment which was certainly not without its dangers, 
the pride of reason was beginning to sustain him in the discus- 
sion. But, fortunately for the credit of the old man’s forbear- 
ance, when the naturalist reached the word with which he 
terminated his last speech, a sound arose in the air that seemed 
a sort of supernatural echo to the idea itself. The young 
Pawnee, who had awaited the termination of the incomprehen- 
sible discussion with grave and characteristic patience, raised 
his head and listened to the unknown cry, like a stag whoso 
mysterious faculties had detected the footsteps of the distant 
hounds in the gale. The trapper and the Doctor were not, 
however, entirely so uninstructed as to the nature of the extra- 


THE PRAIRIE. 


327 


ordinary sounds. The latter recognised in them the well known 
voice of his own beast, and he was about to rush up the little 
bank which confined the current, with all the longings of strong 
affection, when Asinus himself galloped into view, at no great 
distance, urged to the unnatural gait by the impatient and brutal 
Weucha, who bestrode him. 

The eyes of the Teton and those of the fugitives met. The 
former raised a long, loud, and piercing yell, in which the notes 
of exultation were fearfully blended with those of warning. The 
signal served for a finishing blow to the discussion on the merits 
of the bark, the Doctor stepping as promptly to the side of the 
old man, as if a mental mist had been miraculously removed 
from his eyes. In another instant the steed of the young Pawnee 
was struggling with the torrent. 

The utmost strength of the horse was needed to urge the fugi- 
tives beyond the flight of arrows that came sailing through the 
air, at the next moment. The cry of Weucha had brought fifty 
of his comrades to the shore, but fortunately, among them all, 
there was not one of a rank sufficient to entitle him to the privi- 
lege of bearing a fusee. One half the stream, however, was not 
passed, before the form of Mahtoree himself was seen on its 
bank, and an ineffectual discharge of fire-arms announced the 
rage and disappointment of the chief. More than once the 
trapper had raised his rifle, as if about to try its power on his 
enemies, but he as often lowered it, without firing. The eyes of 
the Pawnee warrior glared like those of the cougar, at the sight 
of so many of the hostile tribe, and he answered the impotent 
effort of their chief, by tossing a hand into the air in contempt, 
and raising the war-cry of his nation. The challenge was too 
taunting to be endured. The Tetons dashed into the stream in 
a body, and the river became dotted with the dark forms of 
beasts and riders. 

There was now a fearful struggle for the friendly bank. As 
the Dahcotahs advanced with beasts which had not, like that 
of the Pawnee, expended their strength in former efforts, and as 
they moved unincumbered by anything but their riders, the 


328 


THE PRAIRIE. 


speed of tlie pursuers greatly outstripped that of the fugitives. 
The trapper, who clearly comprehended the whole danger of 
their situation, calmly turned his eyes from the Tetons to his 
young Indian associate, in order to examine whether the resolu- 
tion of the latter began to falter, as the former lessened the dis- 
tance between them. Instead of betraying fear, however, or any 
of that concern which might so readily have been excited by the 
peculiarity of his risk, the brow of the young warrior contracted 
to a look which indicated high and deadly hostility. 

“ Do you greatly value life, friend Doctor ?” demanded the 
old man, with a sort of philosophical calmness, which made the 
question doubly appalling to his companion. 

“Not for itself,” returned the naturalist, sipping some of the 
water of the river from the hollow of his hand, in order to clear 
his husky throat. “ Not for itself, but exceedingly, inasmuch 
as natural history has so deep a stake in my existence. There- 
fore ” 

“ Ay !” resumed the other, who mused too deeply to dissect 
the ideas of the Doctor with his usual sagacity, “ ’tis in truth 
the history of natur’, and a base and craven feeling it is ! Now 
is life as precious to this young Pawnee, as to any governor in 
the States, and he might save it, or at least stand some chance 
of saving it, by letting us go down the stream ; and yet you see 
he keeps his faith manfully, and like an Indian warrior. For 
myself, I am old, and willing to take the fortune that the Lord 
may see fit to give, nor do I conceit that you are of much bene- 
fit to mankind ; and it is a crying shame, if not a sin, that so 
fine a youth as this should lose his scalp for two beings so 
worthless as ourselves. I am therefore disposed, provided that 
it shall prove agreeable to you, to tell the lad to make the best 
of his way, and to leave us to the mercy of the Tetons.” 

“ I repel the proposition, as repugnant to nature, and as 
treason to science !” exclaimed the alarmed naturalist. “ Our 
progress is miraculous ; and as this admirable invention moves 
with so wonderful a facility, a few more minutes will serve to 
bring us to land.” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


329 


The old man regarded him intently for an instant, and shaking 
his head he said — 

“ Lord, what a thing is fear ! it transforms the creatur’s of 
the world and the craft of man, making that which is ugly, 
seemly in our eyes, and that which is beautiful, unsightly? 
Lord, Lord, what a thing is fear !” 

A termination was, however, put to the discussion, by the 
increasing interest of the chase. The horses of the Dahcotahs 
had by this time gained the middle of the current, and their 
riders were already filling the air with yells of triumph. At 
this moment Middleton and Paul, who had led the females to a 
little thicket, appeared again on the margin of the stream, 
menacing their enemies with the rifle. 

“ Mount, mount,” shouted the trapper, the instant he beheld 
them ; “ mount and fly, if you value those who lean on you for 
help. Mount, and leave us in the hands of the Lord.” 

“ Stoop your head, old trapper,” returned the voice of Paul, 
“ down with ye both into your nest. The Teton devil is in your 
line ; down with your heads and make way for a Kentucky 
bullet.” 

The old man turned his head, and saw that the eager Mah- 
toree, who preceded his party some distance, had brought him- 
self nearly in a line with the bark and the bee-hunter, who 
stood perfectly ready to execute his hostile threat. Bending 
his body low, the rifle was discharged, and the swift lead whizz- 
ed harmlessly past him, on its more distant errand. But the 
eye of the Teton chief was not less quick and certain than that 
of his enemy. He threw himself from his horse the moment 
preceding the report, and sank into the water. The beast 
snorted with terror and anguish, throwing half his form out of 
the river in a desperate plunge. Then he was seen drifting 
away in the torrent, and dyeing the turbid waters with his 
blood. 

The Teton chief soon re-appeared on the surface, and under- 
standing the nature of his loss, he swam with vigorous strokes 
to the nearest of the young men, who relinquished his steed, as 


330 


THE PRAIRIE. 


a matter of course, to so renowned a warrior. The incident, 
however, created a confusion in the whole of the Dahcotah band, 
who appeared to await the intention of their leader, before they 
renewed their efforts to reach the shore. In the meantime the 
vessel of skin had reached the land, and the fugitives were once 
more united on the margin of the river. 

The savages were now swimming about in indecision, as a 
flock of pigeons is often seen to hover in confusion after 
receiving a heavy discharge into its leading column, apparently 
hesitating on the risk of storming a bank so formidably 
defended. The well known precaution of Indian warfare pre- 
vailed, and Mahtoree, admonished by his recent adventure, led 
his warriors back to the shore from which they had come, in 
order to relieve their beasts, which were already becoming unruly. 

“ Now, mount you with the tender ones, and ride for yonder 
hillock,” said the trapper; “beyond it you will find another 
stream, into which you must enter, and turning to the sun, fol- 
low its bed for a mile, until you reach a high and sandy plain ; 
there will I meat you. Go ; mount ; this Pawnee youth and I, 
and my stout friend the physician, who is a desperate warrior, 
are men enough to keep the bank, seeing that show and not use 
is all that is needed.” 

Middleton and Paul saw no use in wasting their breath in 
remonstrances against this proposal. Glad to know that their 
rear was to be covered, even in this imperfect manner, they 
hastily got their horses in motion, and soon disappeared on the 
required route. Some twenty or thirty minutes succeeded this 
movement, before the Tetons on the opposite shore seemed 
inclined to enter on any new enterprise. Mahtoree was distinctly 
visible, in the midst of his warriors, issuing his mandates and 
betraying his desire for vengeance, by occasionally shaking an 
arm in the direction of the fugitives ; but no step was taken 
which appeared to threaten any further act of immediate hosti- 
lity. At length a yell arose among the savages, which 
announced the occurrence of some fresh event. Then Ishmacl 
and his sluggish sons were seen in the distance, and soon the 


THE PRAIRIE. 


031 


whole of the united force moved down to the very limits of the 
stream. The squatter proceeded to examine the position of his 
enemies with his usual coolness, and as if to try the power of 
his rifle, he sent a bullet among them, with a force sufficient to 
do execution, even at the distance at which he stood. 

“ Now let us depart !” exclaimed Obed, endeavoring to catch 
a furtive glimpse of the lead, which he fancied was whizzing at 
his very ear ; “ we have maintained the bank in a gallant man- 
ner for a sufficient length of time ; quite as much military skill 
is to be displayed in a retreat as in an advance.” 

The old man cast a look behind him, and seeing that the 
equestrians had reached the cover of the hill, he made no objec- 
tions to the proposal. The remaining horse was given to the 
Doctor, with instructions to pursue the course just taken by 
Middleton and Paul. When the naturalist was mounted and in 
full retreat, the trapper and the young Pawnee stole from the 
spot in such a manner as to leave their enemies for some time in 
doubt as to their movements. Instead, however, of proceeding 
across the plain towards the hill, a route on which they must 
have been in open view, they took a shorter path, covered by 
the formation of the ground, and intersected the little water- 
course at the point where Middleton had been directed to leave 
it, and just in season to join his party. The Doctor had used 
so much diligence in the retreat as to have already overtaken 
his friends, and of course all the fugitives were again assembled. 

The trapper now looked about him for some convenient spot 
where the whole party might halt, as he expressed it, for some 
five or six hours. 

“ Halt !” exclaimed the Doctor, when the alarming proposal 
reached his ears ; “ venerable hunter, it would seem that on the 
contrary many days should be passed in industrious flight.” 

Middleton and Paul were both of this opinion, and each in 
his particular manner expressed as much. 

The old man heard them with patience, but shook his head 
like one who was unconvinced, and then answered all their argu- 
ments in one general and positive reply. 


332 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ Why should we fly ?” he asked. “ Can the legs of mortal 
men outstrip the speed of horses ? Do you think the Tetons 
will lie down and sleep ; or will they cross the water and nose 
for our trail ? Thanks be to the Lord we have washed it well 
in this stream, and if we leave the place with discretion and 
wisdom we may yet throw them off its track. But a prairie is 
not a wood. There a man may journey long, caring for nothing 
but the prints his moccasin leaves, whereas on these open plains 
a runner placed on yonder hill, for instance, could see far on 
every side of him, like a hovering hawk looking down on his 
prey. No, no ; night must come and darkness be upon us afore 
we leave this spot. But listen to the words of the Pawnee ; he 
is a lad of spirit, and I warrant me many is the hard race that 
he has run with the Sioux bands. Does my brother think our 
trail is long enough ?” he demanded in the Indian tongue. 

“ Is a Teton a fish, that he can see it in the river ?” 

“ But my young men think we should stretch it until it 
reaches across the prairie.” 

“ Mahtoree has eyes ; he will see it.” 

“ What does my brother counsel ?” 

The young warrior studied the heavens a moment, and 
appeared to hesitate. He mused some time with himself, and 
then he replied, like one whose opinion was fixed — 

“ The Dahcotahs are not asleep,” he said ; “ we must lie in 
the grass.” 

“ Ah ! the lad is of my mind,” said the old man, briefly 
explaining the opinion of his companion to his white friends. 
Middleton was obliged to acquiesce, and, as it was confessedly 
dangerous to remain upon their feet, each one set about assisting 
in the means to be adopted for their security. Inez and Ellen 
were quickly bestowed beneath the warm and not uncomfortable 
shelter of the buffalo skins, which formed a thick covering, and 
tall grass was drawn over the place in such a manner as to 
evade any examination from a common eye. Paul and the 
Pawnee fettered the beasts and cast them to the earth, where, 
after supplying them with food, they were also left concealed in 


THE PRAIRIE. 


333 


the fog of the prairie. No time was lost when these several 
arrangements were completed before each of the others sought 
a place ot rest and concealment, and then the plain appeared 
again deserted to its solitude. 

The old man had advised his companions of the absolute 
necessity of their continuing for hours in this concealment. All 
their hopes of escape depended on the success of the artifice. If 
they might elude the cunning of their pursuers by this simple 
and therefore less suspected expedient, they could renew their 
flight as the evening approached, and, by changing their course, 
the chance of final success would be greatly increased. Influ- 
enced by these momentous considerations the whole party lay 
musing on their situation, until thoughts grew weary, and sleep 
finally settled on them all, one after another. 

The deepest silence had prevailed for hours, when the quick 
ears of the trapper and the Pawnee were startled by a faint cry 
of surprise from Inez. Springing to their feet, like men who 
were about to struggle for their lives, they found the vast plain, 
the rolling swells, the little hillock, and the scattered thickets, 
covered alike in one white, dazzling sheet of snow. 

“ The Lord have mercy on ye all !” exclaimed the old man, 
regarding the prospect with a rueful eye ; “ now, Pawnee, do I 
know the reason why you studied the clouds so closely ; but it 
is too late ; it is too late ! A squirrel would leave his trail on 
this light coating of the ’arth. Ha ! there come the imps to a 
certainty. Down with ye all, down with ye; your chance is 
but small, and yet it must not be wilfully cast away.” 

The whole party was instantly concealed again, though many 
an anxious and stolen glance was directed through the tops of 
the grass, on the movements of their enemies. At the distance 
of half a mile, the Teton band was seen riding in a circuit, which 
was gradually contracting itself, and evidently closing upon the 
very spot where the fugitives lay. There was but little diffi- 
culty in solving the mystery of this movement. The snow had 
fallen in time to assure them that those they sought were in 
their rear, and they were now employed, with the unwearied 


334 


THE PRAIRIE. 


perseverance and patience of Indian warriors, in circling the 
certain boundaries of their place of concealment. 

Each minute added to the jeopardy of the fugitives. Paul 
and Middleton deliberately prepared their rifles, and as the occu- 
pied Malitoree came, at length, within fifty feet of them, keeping 
his eyes riveted on the grass through which he rode, they 
levelled them together and pulled the triggers. The effort 
was answered by the mere snapping of the locks. 

“ Enough,” said the old man, rising with dignity ; “ I have 
cast away the priming ; for certain death would follow your 
rashness. Now let us meet our fates like men. Cringing and 
complaining find no favor in Indian eyes.” 

His appearance was greeted by a yell that spread far and 
wide over the plain, and in a moment a hundred savages were 
seen riding madly to the spot. Mahtoree received his prisoners 
with great self-restraint, though a single gleam of fierce joy 
broke through his clouded brow, and the heart of Middleton 
grew cold as he caught the expression of that eye, which the 
chief turned on the nearly insensible but still lovely Inez. 

The exultation of receiving the white captives was so great, 
as for a time to throw the dark and immovable form of their 
young Indian companion entirely out of view. He stood apart, 
disdaining to turn an eye on his enemies, as motionless as if he 
were frozen in that attitude of dignity and composure. But 
when a little time had passed, even this secondary object 
attracted the attention of the Tetons. Then it was that the 
trapper first learned, by the shout of triumph and the long 
drawn yell of delight, which burst at once from a hundred 
throats, as well as by the terrible name which filled the air, that 
his youthful friend was no other than that redoubtable and 
hitherto invincible warrior, Hard-Heart. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


335 


CHAPTER XXV. 

“ What, are ancient Pistol and you friends, yet V* 

Shakspkark. 

The curtain of our imperfect drama must fall to rise upon 
another scene. The time is advanced several days, during which 
very material changes had occurred in the situation of the 
actors. The hour is noon, and the place an elevated plain, that 
rose, at no great distance from the water, somewhat abruptly 
from a fertile bottom which stretched along the margin of one 
of the numberless, watercourses of that region. The river took 
its rise near the base of the Rocky Mountains, and after washing 
a vast extent of plain it mingled its waters with a still larger 
stream, to become finally lost in the turbid current of the Mis- 
souri. 

The landscape was changed materially for the better ; though 
the hand which had impressed so much of the desert on the 
surrounding region, had laid a portion of its power on this spot. 
The appearance of vegetation was, however, less discouraging 
than in the more sterile wastes of the rolling prairies. Clusters 
of trees were scattered in greater profusion, and a long outline 
of ragged forest marked the northern boundary of the view. 
Here and there on the bottom, were to be seen the evidences of 
a hasty and imperfect culture of such indigenous vegetables as 
were of a quick growth, and which were known to flourish 
without the aid of art in deep and alluvial soils. On the very 
edge of what might be called the table-land, were pitched the 
hundred lodges of a horde of wandering Siouxes. Their light 
tenements were arranged without the least attention to order. 
Proximity to the water seemed to be the only consideration 
which had been consulted in their disposition, nor had even 


300 


THE PRAIRIE. 


this important convenience been always regarded. While most 
of the lodges stood along the brow of the plain, many were to 
be seen at greater distances, occupying such places as had first 
pleased the capricious eyes of their untutored owners. The 
encampment was not military, nor in the slightest degree pro- 
tected from surprise by its position or defences. It was open 
on every side, and on every side as accessible as any other 
point in those wastes, if the imperfect and natural obstruc- 
tion offered by the river be excepted. In short, the place 
bore the appearance of having been tenanted longer than 
its occupants had originally intended, while it was not wanting 
in the signs of readiness for a hasty, or even a compelled 
departure. 

This was the temporary encampment of that portion of his 
people who had long been hunting under the direction of 
Mahtoree, on those grounds which separated the stationary 
abodes of his nation from those of the warlike tribes of the 
Pawnees. The lodges were tents of skin, high, conical, and of 
the most simple and primitive construction. The shield, the 
quiver, the lance, and the bow of its master, were to be seen 
suspended from a light post before the opening or door of each 
habitation. The different domestic implements of his one, two, 
or three wives, as the brave was of greater or lesser renown, 
were carelessly thrown at its side, and here and there the round, 
full, patient countenance of an infant might be found peeping 
from its comfortless wrappers of bark, as, suspended by a deer- 
skin thong from the same post, it rocked in the passing air. 
Children of a larger growth were tumbling over each other in 
piles, the males, even at that early age, making themselves dis- 
tinguished for that species of domination which, in after life, was 
to mark the vast distinction between the sexes. Youths were 
in the bottom, essaying their juvenile powers in curbing the 
wild steeds of their fathers, while here and there a truant girl 
was to be seen stealing from her labors to admire their fierce 
and impatient daring. 

Thus far the picture was the daily exhibition of an encamp- 


TI1E PRAIRIE. 


337 


inent confident in its security. But immediately in front of the 
lodges was a gathering that seemed to forebode some movements 
of more than usual interest. A few of the withered and 
remorseless crones of the band were clustering together, in 
readiness to lend their fell voices if needed, to aid in exciting 
their descendants to an exhibition which their depraved tastes 
coveted, as the luxurious Roman dame witnessed the struggles 
and the agony of the gladiator. The men were subdivided into 
groups, assorted according to the deeds and reputations of the 
several individuals of whom they were composed. 

They who were of that equivocal age which admitted them 
to the hunts, while their discretion was still too doubtful to 
permit them to be trusted on the war-path, hung around the 
skirts of the whole, catching from the fierce models before them, 
that gravity of demeanor and restraint of manner which in 
time was to become so deeply ingrafted in their own charac- 
ters. A few of the still older class, and who had heard the 
whoop in anger, were a little more presuming, pressing nigher 
to the chiefs, though far from presuming to mingle in their 
councils, sufficiently distinguished by being permitted to catch 
the wisdom which fell from lips so venerated. The ordinary 
warriors of the band were still less diffident, not hesitating to 
mingle among the chiefs of lesser note, though far from assum- 
ing the right to dispute the sentiments of any established 
brave, or to call in question the prudence of measures that 
were recommended by the more gifted counsellors of the nation. 

Among the chiefs themselves there was a singular compound 
of exterior. They were divided into two classes ; those who 
were mainly indebted for their influence to physical causes and 
to deeds in arms, and those who had become distinguished 
rather for their wisdom than for their services in the field. The 
former was by far the most numerous and the most important 
class. They were men of stature and mien, whose stern counte- 
nances were often rendered doubly imposing by those evidences 
of their valor which had been roughly traced on their linea- 
ments by the hands of their enemies. That class which had 
15 


388 


THE PRAIRIE. 


gained its influence by a moral ascendency was extremely 
limited. They were uniformly to be distinguished by the quick 
and lively expression of their eyes, by the air of distrust that 
marked their movements, and occasionally by the vehemence 
of their utterance in those sudden outbreakings of the mind by 
which their present consultations were from time to time distin- 
guished. 

In the very centre of a ring formed by these chosen counsel- 
lors was to be seen the person of the disquieted, but seemingly 
calm, Mahtoree. There was a conjunction of all the several 
qualities of the others in his person and character. Mind as 
well as matter had contributed to establish his authority. His 
scars were as numerous and deep as those of the whitest head 
in his nation ; his limbs were in their greatest vigor ; his courage 
at its fullest height. Endowed with this rare combination of 
moral and physical influence, the keenest eye in all that assem- 
bly was wont to lower before his threatening glance. Courage 
and cunning had established his ascendencj", and it had been 
rendered in some degree sacred by time. He knew so well 
how to unite the powers of reason and force, that in a state of 
society which admitted of a greater display of his energies, the 
Teton would in all probability have been both a conqueror and 
a despot. 

A little apart from the gathering of the band was to be seen 
a set of beings of an entirely different origin. Taller and far 
more muscular in their persons, the lingering vestiges of their 
Saxon and Norman ancestry were yet to be found beneath the 
swarthy complexions which had been bestowed by an American 
sun. It would have been a curious investigation for one skilled 
in such an inquiry, to have traced those points of difference by 
which the offspring of the most western European was still to be 
distinguished from the descendant of the most remote Asiatic, 
now that the two, in the revolutions of the world, were approxi- 
mating in their habits, their residence, and not a little in their 
characters. The group of whom we write, was composed of 
the family of the squatter. They stood indolent, lounging, and 


THE PRAIRIE. 


330 


inert as usual when no immediate demand was made on their 
dormant energies, clustered in front of some four or five habita- 
tions of skin, for which they were indebted to the hospitality of 
their Teton allies. The terms of their unexpected confederation 
were sufficiently explained by the presence of the horses and 
domestic cattle that were quietly grazing on the bottom beneath, 
under the jealous eyes of the spirited Hetty. Their wagons were 
drawn about the lodges in a sort of irregular barrier, which at 
once manifested that their confidence was not entirely restored, 
while, on the other hand, their policy or indolence prevented any 
very positive exhibition of distrust. There was a singular union 
of passive enjoyment and of dull curiosity slumbering in every 
dull countenance, as each of the party' stood leaning on his rifle 
regarding the movements of the Sioux conference. Still no 
sign of expectation or interest escaped from the youngest among 
them, the whole appearing to emulate the most phlegmatic of 
their savage allies in an exhibition of patience. They rarely 
spoke ; and when they did it was in some short and contemp- 
tuous remark, which served to put the physical superiority of a 
white man and that of an Indian in a sufficiently striking point 
of view. In short, the family of Ishmael appeared now to be 
in the plenitude of an enjoyment which depended on inactivity, 
but which was not entirely free from certain confused glimmer- 
ings of a perspective in which their security stood in some little 
danger of a rude interruption from Teton treachery. Abiram 
alone formed a solitary exception to this state of equivocal 
repose. 

After a life passed in the commission of a thousand mean 
and insignificant villanies, the mind of the kidnapper had be- 
come hardy enough to attempt the desperate adventure which 
has been laid before the reader in the course of the narrative. 
His influence over the bolder but less active spirit of Ishmael 
was far from great, and had not the latter been suddenly 
expelled a fertile bottom, of which he had taken possession with 
intent to keep it without much deference to the forms of law, 
he would never have succeeded in enlisting the husband of his 


340 


THE PRAIRIE. 


sister in an enterprise that required so much decision and fore- 
thought. Their original success and subsequent disappointment 
have been seen ; and Abiram now sat apart plotting the means 
by which he might secure to himself the advantages of his 
undertaking, which he perceived were each moment becoming 
more uncertain, through the open admiration of Mahtoree for 
the innocent subject of his villany. We shall leave him to his 
vacillating and confused expedients, in order to pass to the 
description of certain other personages in the drama. 

There was still another corner of the picture that was occu- 
pied. On a little bank at the extreme right of the encampment 
lay the forms of Middleton and Paul. Their limbs were pain- 
fully bound with thongs cut from the skin of a bison, while, by 
a sort of refinement in cruelty, they were so placed that each 
could see a reflection of his own misery in the case of his neigh- 
bor. Within a dozen yards of them a post was set firmly in the 
ground, and against it was bound the light and Apollo-like 
person of Hard-IIeart. Between the two stood the trapper, 
deprived of his rifle, his pouch, and his horn, but otherwise left 
in a sort of contemptuous liberty. Some five or six young 
warriors, however, with quivers at their backs and long tough 
bows dangling from their shoulders, who stood with grave 
watchfulness at no great distance from the spot, sufficiently pro- 
claimed how fruitless any attempt to escape on the part of one 
so aged and so feeble might prove. Unlike the other spectators 
of the important conference, these individuals were engaged in 
a discourse that for them contained an interest of its own. 

“ Captain,” said the bee-hunter, with an expression of comical 
concern that no misfortune could depress in one of his buoyant 
feelings, “ do you really find that accursed strap of untanned 
leather cutting into your shoulder, or is it only the tickling in 
my own arm that I feel ?” 

“ When the spirit suffers so deeply the body is insensible to 
pain,” returned the more refined, though scarcely so spirited 
Middleton ; “ would to Heaven that some of my trusty artille- 
rists might fall upon this accursed encampment !” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


341 


“ You might as well wish that these Teton lodges were so 
many hives of hornets, and that the insects would come forth 
and battle with yonder tribe of half-naked savages.” Then, 
chuckling with his own conceit, the bee-hunter turned away 
from his companion, and sought a momentary relief from his 
misery by imagining that so wild an idea might be realized, and 
fancying the manner in which the attack would upset even the 
well established patience of an Indian. 

Middleton was glad to be silent ; but the old man, who had 
listened to their words, drew a little nigher, and continued the 
discourse. 

“ Here is likely to be a merciless and a hellish business !” he 
said, shaking his head in a manner to prove that even his expe- 
rience was at a loss for a remedy in so trying a dilemma. “ Our 
Pawnee friend is already staked for the torture, and I well know, 
by the eye and the countenance of the great Sioux, that he is 
leading on the temper of his people to further enormities ” 

“ Harkee, old trapper,” said Paul, writhing in his bonds to 
catch a glimpse of the other’s melancholy face ; “ you ar’ skilled 
in Indian tongues, and know somewhat of Indian deviltries. Go 
you to the council, and tell their chiefs in my name, that is to 
say, in the name of Paul Hover, of the state of Kentucky, that 
provided they will guarantee the safe return of one Ellen Wade 
into the States, they are welcome to take his scalp when and in 
such manner as best suits their amusements ; or, if-so-be they 
will not trade on these conditions, you may throw in an hour or 
two of torture beforehand, in order to sweeten the bargain to 
their damnable appetites.” 

“ Ah ! lad, it is little they would hearken to such an offer, 
knowing, as they do, that you are already like a bear in a trap, 
as little able to fight as to fly. But be not down-hearted, for 
the color of a white man is sometimes his death-warrant among 
these far tribes of savages, and sometimes his shield. Though 
they love us not, cunning often ties their hands. Could the red 
nations work their will, trees would shortly be growing again on 
the ploughed fields of America, and woods would be whitened 


342 


THE PRAIRIE. 


with Christian bones. No one can doubt that, who knows the 
quality of the love which a Red-skin bears a Pale-face ; but they 
have counted our numbers until their memories fail them, and 
they are not without their policy. Therefore is our fate un- 
settled ; but I fear me there is small hope left for the Pawnee !” 

As the old man concluded, he walked slowly towards the 
subject of his latter observation, taking his post at no great 
distance from his side. Here he stood, observing such a silence 
and mien as became him to manifest, to a chief so renowned and 
so situated as his captive associate. But the eye of Hard-Heart 
was fastened on the distance, and his whole air was that of one 
whose thoughts were entirely removed from the present scene. 

“ The Siouxes are in council on my brother,” the trapper at 
length observed, when he found he could only attract the other’s 
attention by speaking. 

The young partisan turned his head with a calm smile as he 
answered — 

“ They are counting the scalps over the lodge of Hard- 
Heart !” 

“ No doubt, no doubt ; their tempers begin to mount, as they 
remember the number of Tetons you have struck, and better 
would it be for you now, had more of your days been spent in 
chasing the deer, and fewer on the war-path. Then some child- 
less mother of this tribe might take you in the place of her lost 
son, and your time would be filled in peace.” 

“ Does my father think that a warrior can ever die ? The 
Master of Life does not open his hand to take away his gifts 
again. When he wants his young men he calls them, and they 
go. But the Red-skin he has once breathed on lives for ever.” 

“ Ay, this is a more comfortable and a more humble faith 
than that which yonder heartless Teton harbors ! There is some- 
thing in these Loups which opens my inmost heart to them ; 
they seem to have the courage, ay, and the honesty, too, of the 
Delawares of the hills. And this lad — it is wonderful, it is very 
wonderful* but the age, and the eye, and the limbs are as if 
they might have been brothers ! Tell me, Pawnee, have you 


THE PRAIRIE. 


343 


ever in your traditions heard of a mighty people who once lived 
on the shores of the Salt-lake, hard by the rising sun ?” 

“ The earth is white, by people of the color of my father.” 

“Nay, nay, I speak not now of any strollers who have crept 
into the land to rob the lawful owners of their birthright, but of 
a people who are, or rather were, what with nature and what 
with paint, red as the berry on the bush.” 

“I have heard the old men say, that there were bands 
who hid themselves in the woods under the rising sun, because 
they dared not come upon the open prairies to fight with 
men.” 

“ Do not your traditions tell you of the greatest, the bravest, 
and the wisest nation of Red-skins that the Wahcondah has ever 
breathed upon ?” 

Hard-Heart raised his head, with a loftiness and dignity that 
even his bonds could not repress, as he answered — 

“ Has age blinded my father ; or does he see so many Siouxes 
that he believes there are no longer any Pawnees ?” 

“ Ah ! such is mortal vanity and pride !” exclaimed the 
disappointed old man, in English : “ Natur’ is as strong in a 
Red-skin as in the bosom of a man of white gifts. Now would 
a Delaware conceit himself far mightier than a Pawnee, just as 
a Pawnee boasts himself to be of the princes of the ’arth. 
And so it was atween the Frenchers of the Canadas and the 
red-coated English, that the king did use to send into the States, 
when States they were not, but outcrying and petitioning pro- 
vinces ; they fou’t and they fou’t, and what marvellous boastings 
did they give forth to the world of their own valor and victories, 
while both parties forgot to name the humble soldier of the 
land who did the real service, but who, as he was not privileged 
then to smoke at the great council fire of his nation, seldom heard 
of his deeds, after they were once bravely done.” 

When the old man had thus given vent to the nearly dor- 
mant, but far from extinct, military pride, that had so uncon- 
sciously led him into the very error he deprecated, his eye, which 
had begun to quicken and glimmer with some of the ardor of 


344 


THE PRAIRIE. 


his youth, softened and turned its anxious look on the devoted 
captive, whose countenance was also restored to its former cold 
look of abstraction and thought. 

“ Young warrior,” he continued, in a voice that was growing 
tremulous, “ I have never been father or brother. The Wah- 
condah made me to live alone. He never tied my heart to 
house or field, by the cords with which the men of my race are 
bound to their lodges ; if he had, I should not have journeyed 
so far, and seen so much. But I have tarried long among a 
people who lived in those woods you mention, and much rea- 
son did I find to imitate their courage and love their honesty. 
The Master of Life has made us all, Pawnee, with a feeling for 
our kind. I never was a father, but well do I know what is the 
love of one. You are like a lad I valued, and I had even begun 
to fancy that some of his blood might be in your veins. But 
what matters that ? You are a true man, as I know by the way 
in which you keep your faith ; and honesty is a gift too rare to 
be forgotten. My heart yearns to you, boy, and gladly would I 
do you good.” 

The youthful warrior listened to the words which came from 
the lips of the other with a force and simplicity that established 
their truth, and he bowed his head on his naked bosom, in testi- 
mony' of the respect with which he met the proffer. Then 
lifting his dark eye to the level of the view, he seemed to be 
again considering of things removed from every personal con- 
sideration. The trapper, who well knew how high the pride of 
a warrior would sustain him, in those moments he believed to 
be his last, awaited the pleasure of his young friend, with 
a meekness and patience that he had acquired by his associa- 
tion with that remarkable race. At length the gaze of the 
Pawnee began to waver ; and then quick, flashing glances were 
turned from the countenance of the old man to the air, and from 
the air to his deeply marked lineaments again, as if the spirit, 
which governed their movements, was beginning to be troubled. 

“ Father,” the young brave finally answered, in a voice of con- 
fidence and kindness, “ I have heard your words. They have 


THE PRAIRIE. 


345 


gone in at my ears, and are now within me. The white-headed 
Long-knife has no son ; the Hard-Heart of the Pawnees is 
young, but he is already the oldest of his family. He found 
the bones of his hither on the hunting-ground of the Osages, and 
he has sent them to the prairies of the Good Spirits. No doubt 
the great chief, his father, has seen them, and knows what is 
part of himself. But the Wahcondah will soon call to us both ; 
you, because you have seen all that is to be seen in this country ; 
and Hard-Heart, because he has need of a warrior who is young. 
There is no time for the Pawnee to show the Pale-face the duty 
that a son owes to his father."’ 

“ Old as I am, and miserable and helpless as I now stand, to 
what I once was, I may live to see fhe sun go down in the 
prairie. Does my son expect to do as much ?” 

“ The Tetons are counting the scalps on my lodge !” returned 
the young chief, with a smile whose melancholy was singularly 
illuminated by a gleam of triumph. 

“ And they find them many. Too many for the safety of its 
owner, while he is in their revengeful hands. My son is not a 
woman, and he looks on the path he is about to travel with a 
steady eye. Has he nothing to whisper in the ears of his people 
before he starts ? These legs are old, but they may yet carry 
me to the forks of the Loup river.” 

“ Tell them that Hard-Heart has tied a knot in his wampum 
for every Teton !” burst from the lips of the captive, with that 
vehemence with which sudden passion is known to break through 
the barriers of artificial restraint ; “ if he meets one of them all 
in the prairies of the Master of Life his heart will become Sioux !” 

“ Ah ! that feeling would be a dangerous companion for a 
man with white gifts to start with on so solemn a journey,” 
muttered the old man in English. “ This is not what the good 
Moravians said to the councils of the Delawares, nor what is so 
often preached to the White-skins in the settlements, though, 
to the shame of the color be it said, it is so little heeded. 
Pawnee, I love you ; but being a Christian man, I cannot be the 
runner to bear such a message.” 

15 * 


346 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“If my father is afraid the Tetons will hear him, let him 
whisper it softly to our old men.” 

“ As for fear, young warrior, it is no more the shame of a 
Pale-face than of a Red-skin. The Wahcondah teaches us to 
love the life he gives ; but it is as men love their hunts, and 
their dogs, and their carabines, and not with the doting that a 
mother looks upon her infant. The Master of Life will not have 
to speak aloud twice when he calls my name. I am as ready 
to answer to it now as I shall be to-morrow, or at any time it 
may please his mighty will. But what is a warrior without his 
traditions ? Mine forbid me to carry your words.” 

The chief made a dignified motion of assent, and here there 
was great danger that those feelings of confidence which had 
been so singularly awakened, would as suddenly subside. But 
the heart of the old man had been too sensibly touched, through 
long dormant but still living recollections, to break off the com- 
munication so rudely. He pondered for a minute, and then 
bending his look wistfully on his young associate, again con- 
tinued — 

“ Each warrior must be judged by his gifts. I have told my 
son what I cannot, but let him open his ears to what I can do. 
An elk shall not measure the prairie much swifter than these 
old legs, if the Pawnee will give me a message that a white man 
may bear.” 

“ Let the Pale-face listen,” returned the other, after hesitating 
a single instant longer, under a lingering sensation of his former 
disappointment. “ He will stay here till the Siouxes have done 
counting the scalps of their dead warriors. He will wait until 
they have tried to cover the heads of eighteen Tetons with the 
skin of one Pawnee ; he will open his eyes wide, that he may 
see the place where they bury the bones of a warrior.” 

“ All this will I, and may I, do, noble boy.” 

“ He will mark the spot, that he may know it.” 

“No fear, no fear that I shall forget the place,” interrupted 
the other, whose fortitude began to give way under so trying fin 
exhibition of calmness and resignation. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


347 


“ Then I know that my father will go to my people. Hia 
head is grey, and his words will not be blown away with the 
smoke. Let him get on my lodge, and call the name of Hard- 
Heart aloud. No Pawnee will be deaf. Then let my father 
ask for the colt that has never been ridden, but which is sleeker 
than the buck, and swifter than the elk.” 

“I understand you, boy, I understand you,” interrupted the 
attentive old man ; “ and what you say shall be done, ay, and 
well done too, or I’m but little skilled in the wishes of a dying 
Indian.” 

“ And when my young men have given my father the halter 
of that colt, he will lead him by a crooked path to the grave of 
Hard-Heart ?” 

“ Will I ! ay, that I will, brave youth, though the winter 
covers these plains in banks of snow, and the sun is hidden as 
much by day as by night. To the head of the holy spot will I 
lead the beast, and place him with his eyes looking towards the 
setting sun.” 

“And my father will speak to him, and tell him that the 
master who has fed him since he was foaled has now need of 
him.” 

“ That, too, will I do ; though the Lord he knows that I shall 
hold discourse with a horse, not with any vain conceit that my 
words will be understood, but only to satisfy the cravings of 
Indian superstition. Hector, my pup, what think yow, dog, of 
talking to a horse ?” 

“ Let the grey -beard speak to him with the tongue of a 
Pawnee,” interrupted the young victim, perceiving that his com- 
panion had used an unknown language for the preceding 
speech. 

“My son’s will shall be done. And with these old hands, 
which I had hoped had nearly done with bloodshed, whether 
it be of man or beast, will I slay the animal on your 
grave !” 

“ It is good,” returned the other, a gleam of satisfaction 
flitting across his features. “ Hard-Heart will ride his horse to 


348 


THE PRAIRIE. 


the blessed prairies, and he will come before the Master of Life 
like a chief!” 

The sudden and striking change which instantly occurred in 
the countenance of the Indian, caused the trapper to look 
aside, when he perceived that the conference of the Siouxes 
had ended, and that Mahtoree, attended by one or two of the 
principal warriors, was deliberately approaching his intended 
victim. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


349 


CHAPTER XXVI. 


u I am not prone to weeping, as our sex 
Commonly are. — 

“ — But I have that honorable 
Grief lodged here, which burns worse than 
Tears drown ” 

Siiakspbare. 

When within twenty feet of the prisoners, the Tetons stopped, 
and their leader made a sign to the old man to draw nigh. 
The trapper obeyed, quitting the young Pawnee with a signifi- 
cant look, which was received, as it was meant, for an additional 
pledge that he would never forget his promise. So soon as 
Mahtoree found that the other had stopped within reach of him, 
he stretched forth his arm, and laying a hand upon the shoulder 
of the attentive old man, he stood regarding him a minute, with 
eyes that seemed willing to penetrate the recesses of his most 
secret thoughts. 

“Is a Pale-face always made with two tongues?” he 
demanded, when he found that, as usual with the subject of 
this examination, he was as little intimidated by his present 
frown, as moved by any apprehensions of the future. 

“ Honesty lies deeper than the skin.” 

“ It is so. Xow let my father hear me. Mahtoree has but 
one tongue, the grey-head has many. They may be all straight, 
and none of them forked. A Sioux is no more than a Sioux, 
but a Pale-face is everything ! He can talk to the Pawnee, and 
the Konza, and the Omahaw, and he can talk to his own 
people.” 

“ Ay, there are linguisters in the settlements that can do still 
more. But what profits it all ? The Master of Life has an ear 
for every language !” 


86 0 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ The grey-head has done wrong. He has said one thing 
when he meant another. He has looked before him with his 
eyes, and behind him with his mind. He has ridden the horse 
of a Sioux too hard ; he has been the friend of a Pawnee, and 
the enemy of my people.” 

“ Teton, I am your prisoner. Though my words are white, 
they will not complain. Act your will.” 

“ No. Mahtoree will not make a white hair red. My 
father is free. The prairie is open on every side of him. 
But before the grey-head turns his back on the Siouxes, let him 
look well at them, that he may tell his own chief how great is 
a Dahcotah ! ” 

“ I am not in a hurry to go on my path. You see a man 
with a white head, and no woman, Teton ; therefore shall I not 
run myself out of breath, to tell the nations of the prairies what 
the Siouxes are doing.” 

“ It is good. My father has smoked with the chiefs at many 
councils,” returned Mahtoree, who now thought himself suffi- 
ciently sure of the other’s favor to go more directly to his 
object. “ Mahtoree will speak with the tongue of his very 
dear friend and father. A young Pale-face will listen when 
an old man of that nation opens his mouth. Go ; my father 
will make what a poor Indian says fit for a white ear.” 

“ Speak aloud ! ” said the trapper, who readily understood 
the metaphorical manner in which the Teton expressed a 
desire that he should become an interpreter of his words into 
the English language ; “ speak, my young men listen. Now, 
captain, and you too, friend bee-hunter, prepare yourselves to 
meet the deviltries of this savage with the stout hearts of 
white warriors. If you find yourselves giving way under his 
threats, just turn your eyes on that noble-looking Pawnee, 
whose time is measured with a hand as niggardly as that with 
which a trader in the towns gives forth the fruits of the Lord, 
inch by inch, in order to satisfy his covetousness. A single 
look at the boy will set you both up in resolution.” 

“ My brother has turned his eyes on the wrong path,” inter- 


THE PRAIRIE. 


351 


rupted Mahtoree, with a complacency that betrayed how 
unwilling he was to offend his intended interpreter. 

“ The Dahcotah will speak to my young men ? ” 

“After he has sung in the ear of the flower of the Pale- 
faces.” 

“ The Lord forgive the desperate villain ! ” exclaimed the old 
man in English. “ There are none so tender, or so young, or 
so innocent, as- to escape his ravenous wishes. But hard words 
and cold looks will profit nothing ; therefore it will be wise to 
speak him fair. Let Mahtoree open his mouth.” 

“ Would my father cry out that the women and children 
should hear the wisdom of chiefs ? We will go into the lodge 
and whisper.” 

As the Teton ended, he pointed significantly towards a tent, 
vividly emblazoned with the history of one of his own boldest 
and most commended exploits, and which stood a little apart 
from the rest, as if to denote it was the residence of some 
privileged individual of the band. The shield and quiver at 
its entrance were richer than common, and the high distinction 
of a fusee attested the importance of its proprietor. In every 
other particular it was rather distinguished by signs of poverty 
than of wealth. The domestic utensils were fewer in number 
and simpler in their forms than those to be seen about the open- 
ings of the meanest lodges, nor was there a single one of those 
highly prized articles of civilized life, which were occasionally 
bought of the traders, in bargains that bore so hard on the 
ignorant natives. All these had been bestowed, as they had 
been acquired, by the generous chief, on his subordinates, to 
purchase an influence that might render him the master of their 
lives and persons ; a species of wealth that was certainly more 
noble in itself, and far dearer to his ambition. 

The old man well knew this to be the lodge of Mahtoree, and, 
in obedience to the sign of the chief, he held his way towards it 
with slow and reluctant steps. But there were others present 
who were equally interested in the approaching conference,- 
whose apprehensions were not to be so easily suppressed. The 


352 


THE PRAIRIE. 


watchful eyes and jealous ears of Middleton had taught him 
enough to fill his soul with horrible forebodings. With an 
incredible effort he succeeded in gaining his feet, and called 
aloud to the retiring trapper — 

“ I conjure you, old man, if the love you bore my parents 
was more than words, or if the love you bear your God is that 
of a Christian man, utter not a syllable that may wound the ear 
of that innocent ” 

Exhausted in spirit and fettered in limbs, he then fell like an 
animate log to the earth, where he lay like one dead. 

Paul had, however, caught the clue, and completed the exhor- 
tation in his peculiar manner. 

“Harkee, old trapper,” he shouted, vainly endeavoring at the 
same time to make a gesture of defiance with his hand ; “if you 
ar’ about to play the interpreter, speak such words to the ears of 
that damnable savage as becomes a white man to use, and 
a heathen to hear. Tell him, from me, that if he does or says 
the thing that is uncivil to the girl called Nelly Wade, that I’ll 
curse him with my dying breath ; that I’ll pray for all good 
Christians in Kentucky to curse him; sitting and standing; 
eating and drinking ; fighting, praying, or at horse-races ; 
in-doors and out-doors ; in summer or winter, or in the month 
of March ; in short, I’ll — ay, it ar’ a fact, morally true — I’ll 
haunt him, if the ghost of a Pale-face can contrive to lift itself 
from a grave made by the hands of a Red-skin !” 

Having thus ventured the most terrible denunciation he could 
devise, and the one which, in the eyes of the honest bee-hunter, 
there seemed the greatest likelihood of his being able to put in 
execution, he was obliged to await the fruits of his threat with 
that resignation which would be apt to govern a western border- 
man who, in addition to the prospects just named, had the 
advantage of contemplating them in fetters and bondage. We 
shall not detain the narrative to relate the quaint morals 
with which he next endeavored to cheer the drooping spirits of 
his more sensitive companion, or the occasional pithy and pecu- 
liar benedictions that he pronounced, on all the bands of 


THE PRAIRIE. 


353 


the Daheolahs, commencing with those whom he accused 
of stealing or murdering, on the banks of the distant Mississippi, 
and concluding, in terms of suitable energy, with the Teton 
tribe. The latter more than once received from his lips curses 
as sententious and as complicated as that celebrated anathema 
of the church, for a knowledge of which most unlettered Pro- 
testants are indebted to the pious researches of the worthy 
Tristram Shandy. But as Middleton recovered from his 
exhaustion . he was fain to appease the boisterous temper of his 
associate, by admonishing him of the uselessness of such denun- 
ciations, and of the possibility of their hastening the very evil 
he deprecated, by irritating the resentments of a race who were 
sufficiently fierce .and lawless, even in their most pacific moods. 

In the meantime the trapper and the Sioux chief pursued 
their way to the lodge. The former had watched with painful 
interest the expression of Mahtoree’s eye, while the words of 
Middleton and Paul w r ere pursuing .their footsteps ; but the mien 
of the Indian was far too much restrained and self-guarded, 
to permit the smallest of his emotions to escape through any of 
those ordinary outlets by which the condition of the human 
volcano is commonly betrayed. His look was fastened on the 
little habitation they approached ; and, for the moment, his 
thoughts appeared to brood alone on the purposes of this extra- 
ordinary visit. 

The appearance of the interior of the lodge corresponded with 
its exterior. It was larger than most of the others, more finished 
in its form, and finer in its materials ; but there its superiority 
ceased. Nothing could be more simple and republican than the 
form of living that the ambitious and powerful Teton chose to 
exhibit to the eyes of his people. A choice collection of wea- 
pons for the chase, and three or four medals, bestowed by 
the traders and political agents of the Canadas as a homage to, 
or rather as an acknowledgment of, his rank, with a few of the 
most indispensable articles of personal accommodation, composed 
its furniture. It abounded in neither venison nor the wild 
beef of the prairies ; its crafty owner having well understood 


354 


THE PRAIRIE. 


that the liberality of a single individual would bo abundantly 
rewarded by the daily contributions of a band. Although 
as pre-eminent in the chase as in war, a deer or a buffalo 
was never seen to enter whole into his lodge. In return, an 
animal was rarely brought into the encampment, that did 
not contribute to support the family of Mahtoree. But the 
policy of the chief seldom permitted more to remain than 
sufficed for the wants of the day, perfectly assured that all must 
suffer before hunger, the bane of savage life, could lay its 
fell fangs on so important a victim. 

Immediately beneath the favorite bow of the chief, and en- 
circled in a sort of magical ring of spears, shields, lances, and 
arrows, all of which had in their time done good service, was 
suspended the mysterious and sacred medicine-bag. It was 
highly wrought in wampum, and profusely ornamented with 
beads and porcupines’ quills, after the most cunning devices of 
Indian ingenuity. The peculiar freedom of Mahtoree’s religious 
creed has been more than once intimated, and by a singular 
species of contradiction, he appeared to have lavished his atten- 
tions on this emblem of a supernatural agency, in a degree that 
was precisely inverse to his faith. It was merely the manner 
in which the Sioux imitated the well known expedient of the 
Pharisees, “ in order that they might be seen of men.” 

The tent had not, however, been entered by its owner since 
his return from the recent expedition. As the reader has 
already anticipated, it had been made the prison of Inez and 
Ellen. The bride of Middleton was seated on a simple couch 
of sweet scented herbs covered with skins. She had already 
suffered so much, and witnessed so many wild and unlooked-for 
events, within the short space of her captivity, that every addi- 
tional misfortune fell with a diminished force on her seemingly 
devoted head. Her cheeks were bloodless, her dark and usually 
animated eye was contracted in an expression of settled concern, 
and her form appeared shrinking and sensitive, nearly to extinc- 
tion. But in the midst of these evidences of natural weakness, 

there were at times such an air of pious resignation, such gleams 

t 


THE PRAIRIE. 


355 


of meek but holy hope lighting her countenance, as might well 
have rendered it a question whether the hapless captive was 
most a subject of pity, or of admiration. All the precepts of 
father Ignatius were riveted in her faithful memory, and not a 
few of his pious visions were floating before her imagination. 
Sustained by so sacred resolutions, the mild, the patient, and the 
confiding girl was bowing her head to this new stroke of Provi- 
dence, with the same sort of meekness as she would have sub- 
mitted to any other prescribed penitence for her sins, though 
nature, at moments, warred powerfully with so compelled a 
humility. 

On the other hand, Ellen had exhibited far more of the wo- 
man, and consequently of the passions of the world. She had 
wept until her eyes were swollen and red. Her cheeks were 
flushed and angry, and her whole mien was distinguished by an 
air of spirit and resentment, that was not a little, however, 
qualified by apprehensions for the future. In short, there was 
that about the eye and step of the betrothed of Paul, which gave 
a warranty that should happier times arrive, and the constancy 
of the bee-hunter finally meet with its reward, he would possess 
a partner every way worthy to cope with his own thoughtless 
and buoyant temperament. 

There was still another and a third figure in that little knot 
of females. It was the youngest, the most highly gifted, and, 
until now, the most favored of the wives of the Teton. Her 
charms had not been without the most powerful attraction in 
the eyes of her husband, until they had so unexpectedly opened 
on the surpassing loveliness of a woman of the Pale-faces. From 
that hapless moment the graces, the attachment, the fidelity of 
the young Indian, had lost their power to please. Still the 
complexion of Tachechana, though less dazzling than that of her 
rival, was, for her race, clear and healthy. Her hazel eye had 
the sweetness and playfulness of the antelope’s ; her voice was 
soft and joyous as the song of the wren, and her happy laugh 
was the very melody of the forest. Of all the Sioux girls, 
Tachechana (or the Fawn) was the lightest-hearted and the 


356 


THE PRAIRIE. 


most envied. Her father had been a distinguished brave, and 
her brothers had already left their bones on a distant and dreary 
war-path. Numberless were the warriors who had sent pre- 
sents to the lodge of her parents, but none of them were listened 
to until a messenger from the great Mahtoree had come. She 
was his third wife, it is true, but she was confessedly the most 
favored of them all. Their union had existed but two short 
seasons, and its fruits now lay sleeping at her feet, wrapped in 
the customary ligatures of skin and bark, which form the 
swaddlings of an Indian infant. 

At the moment when Mahtoree and the trapper arrived at 
the opening of the lodge, the young Sioux wife was seated on a 
simple stool, turning her soft eyes with looks that varied, like 
her emotions, with love and w r onder, from the unconscious child 
to those rare beings who had filled her youthful and uninstructed 
mind with so much admiration and astonishment. Though 
Inez and Ellen had passed an entire day in her sight, it seemed 
as if the longings of her curiosity were increasing with each 
new gaze. She regarded them as beings of an entirely different 
nature and condition from the females of the prairie. Even the 
mystery of their complicated attire had its secret influence on 
her simple mind, though it was the grace and charms of sex, to 
which nature has made every people so sensible, that most 
attracted her admiration. But while her ingenuous disposition 
freely admitted the superiority of the strangers over the less 
brilliant attractions of the Dahcotah maidens, she had seen no 
reason to deprecate their advantages. The visit that she was 
now about to receive was the first which her husband had made 
to the tent since his return from the recent inroad, and he was 
ever present to her thoughts as a successful warrior, who was 
not ashamed in the moments of inaction to admit the softer 
feelings of a father and a husband. 

We have everywhere endeavored to show that while Mahtoree 
was in all essentials a warrior of the prairies, he was much in 
advance of his people in those acquirements which announce tho 
dawmings of civilization, lie had held frequent communion 


THE PRAIRIE. 


85V 


with the traders and troops of the Canadas, and the intercourse 
had unsettled many of those wild opinions which were his birth- 
right, without perhaps substituting any others of a nature suffi- 
ciently definite to be profitable. His reasoning was rather subtle 
than true, and his philosophy far more audacious than profound. 
Like thousands of more enlightened beings who fancy they are 
able to go through the trials of human existence without any 
other support than their own resolutions, his morals were accom- 
modating and his motives selfish. These several characteristics 
will be understood always with reference to the situation of the 
Indian, though little apology is needed for finding resemblances 
between men who essentially possess the same nature, however 
it may be modified by circumstances. 

Notwithstanding the presence of Inez and Ellen, the entrance 
of the Teton warrior into the lodge of his favorite wife was made 
with the tread and mien of a master. The step of his moccasin 
was noiseless, but the rattling of his bracelets and of the silver 
ornaments of his leggings, sufficed to announce his approach as 
he pushed aside the skin covering of the opening of the tent, 
and stood in the presence of its inmates. A faint cry of pleasure 
burst from the lips of Tachechana in the suddenness of her sur- 
prise, but the emotion was instantly suppressed in that subdued 
demeanor which should characterize a matron of her tribe. In- 
stead of returning the stolen glance of his youthful and secretly 
rejoicing wife, Malitoree moved to the couch occupied by his 
prisoners, and placed himself in the haughty upright attitude of 
an Indian chief before their eyes. The old man had glided past 
him and already taken a position suited to the office he had 
been commanded to fill. 

Surprise kept the females silent and nearly breathless. Though 
accustomed to the sight of savage warriors in the horrid panoply 
of their terrible profession, there was something so startling in 
the entrance, and so audacious in the inexplicable look of their 
conqueror, that the eyes of both sank to the earth under a feel- 
ing of terror and embarrassment. Then Inez recovered herself, 
and addressing the trapper, she demanded with the dignity of 


358 


THE PRAIRIE. 


an offended gentlewoman, though with her accustomed grace, 
to what circumstance they owed this extraordinary and unex- 
pected visit. The old man hesitated ; but clearing his throat 
like one who was about to make an effort to which he was little 
used, he ventured on the following reply — 

“ Lady,” he said, “ a savage is a savage, and you are not to 
look for the uses and formalities of the settlements on a bleak 
and windy prairie. As these Indians would say, fashions and 
courtesies are things so light that they would blow away. As 
for myself, though a man of the forest, I have seen the ways of 
the great in my time, and I am not to learn that they differ 
from the ways of the lowly. I was long a serving-man in my 
youth, not one of your beck-and-nod runners about a household, 
but a man that went through the servitude of the forest with his 
officer, and well do I know in what manner to approach the 
wife of a captain. Now, had I the ordering of this visit I would 
first have hemmed aloud at the door in order that you might 
hear that strangers were coming, and then I ” 

“ The manner is indifferent,” interrupted Inez, too anxious to 
await the prolix explanations of the old man ; “ why is the visit 
made ?” 

“ Therein shall the savage speak for himself. The daughters 
of the Pale-faces wish to know why the great Teton has come 
into his lodge 8” 

Mahtoree regarded his interrogator with a surprise which 
showed how extraordinary he deemed the question. Then 
placing himself in a posture of condescension, after a moment’s 
delay, he answered — 

“ Sing in the ears of the dark-eye. Tell her the Lodge of 
Mahtoree is very large, and that it is not full. She shall find 
room in it, and none shall be greater than she. Tell the light- 
hair, that she too may stay in the lodge of a brave, and eat of 
his venison. Mahtoree is a great chief. His hand is never 
shut.” 

u Teton,” returned the trapper, shaking his head in evidence 
of the strong disapprobation with which he heard this language, 


THE PRAIRIE. 


359 


“ tlie tongue of a Red-skin must be colored white, before it can 
make music in the ears of a Pale-face. Should your words be 
spoken, my daughters would shut their ears, and Mahtoree 
would seem a trader to their eyes. Now listen to what comes 
from a grey head, and then speak accordingly. My people is a 
mighty people. The sun rises on their eastern and sets on their 
western border. The land is filled with bright-eyed and laugh- 
ing girls, like these you see — ay, Teton, I tell no lie,” observing 
his auditor to start with an air of distrust — “ bright-eyed and 
pleasant to behold, as these before you.” 

“ Has my father a hundred wives ?” interrupted the savage, 
laying his finger on the shoulder of the trapper, with a look of 
curious interest in the reply. 

“ No, Dahcotah. The Master of Life has said to me, Live 
alone ; your lodge shall be the forest ; the roof of your wigwam, 
the clouds. But, though never bound in the secret faith which, 
in my nation, ties one man to one woman, often have I seen 
the workings of that kindness which brings the two together. 
Go into the regions of my people ; you will see the daughters 
of the land fluttering through the towns like many-colored and 
joyful birds in the season of blossoms. You will meet them 
singing and rejoicing along the great paths of the country, and 
you will hear the woods ringing with their laughter. They are 
very excellent to behold, and the young men find pleasure in 
looking at them.” 

“ Hugh !” ejaculated the attentive Mahtoree. 

“ Ay, well may you put faith in what you hear, for it is no 
lie. But when a youth has found a maiden to please him, he 
speaks to her in a voice so soft that none else can hear. He 
does not say, My lodge is empty and there is room for another ; 
but shall I build, and will the virgin show me near what spring 
she would dwell ? His voice is sweeter than honey from the 
locust, and goes into the ear thrilling like the song of a wren. 
Therefore, if my brother wishes his words to be heard he must 
speak with a white tongue.” 

Mahtoree pondered deeply, and in a wonder that he did not 


300 


THE PRAIRIE. 


attempt to conceal. It was reversing all the order of society, 
and, according to his established opinions, endangering the 
dignity of a chief for a warrior thus to humble himself before a 
woman. But as Inez sat before him, reserved and imposing in 
air, utterly unconscious of his object, and least of all suspecting 
the true purport of so extraordinary a visit, the savage felt the 
influence of a manner to which he was unaccustomed. Bowing 
his head in acknowledgment of his error, he stepped a little 
back, and placing himself in an attitude of easy dignity, he began 
to speak with the confidence of one who had been no less distin- 
guished for eloquence than for deeds in arms. Keeping his 
eyes riveted on the unconscious bride of Middleton, he proceeded 
in the following words : — 

“ I am a man with a red skin, but my eyes are dark. They 
have been open since many snows. They have seen many 
things — they know a brave from a coward. When a boy, I 
saw nothing but the bison and the deer. I went to the hunts, 
and I saw the cougar and the bear. This made Mahtoree a 
man. He talked with his mother no more. His ears were 
open to the wisdom of the old men. They told him everything 
—they told him of the Big-knives. He went on the war-path. 
He was then the last — now he is the first. What Dahcotah 
dare say he will go before Mahtoree into the hunting grounds of 
v the Pawnees ? The chiefs met him at their doors, and they 
said my son is without a home. They gave him their lodges, 
they gave him their riches, and they gave him their daughters. 
Then Mahtoree became a chief, as his fathers had been. He 
struck the warriors of all the nations, and he could have chosen 
wives from the Pawnees, the Omahaws, and the Konzas : but 
he looked at the hunting-grounds, and not at his village. He 
thought a horse was pleasanter than a Dahcotah girl. But he 
found a flower on the prairies, and he plucked it, and brought it 
into his lodge. He forgets that he is the master of a single 
horse. He gives them all to the stranger, for Mahtoree is not a 
thief; he will only keep the flower he found on the prairie. Her 
feet are very tender. She cannot walk to the door of her 


THE PRAIRIE. 


3G1 


father ; she will stay in the lodge of a valiant warrior for 
ever.” 

When he had finished this extraordinary address, the Teton 
awaited to have it translated, with the air of a suitor who 
entertained no very disheartening doubts of his success. The 
trapper had not lost a syllable of the speech, and he now 
prepared himself to render it into English in such a manner as 
should leave its principal idea even more obscure than in the 
original. But as his reluctant lips were in the act of parting, 
Ellen lifted a finger, and with a keen glance from her quick eye, 
at the still attentive Inez, she interrupted him. 

“ Spare your breath,” she said : “ all that a savage says is not 
to be repeated before a Christian lady.” 

Inez started, blushed, and bowed with an air of reserve, as 
she coldly thanked the old man for his intentions, and observed 
that she could now wish to be alone. 

“ My daughters have no need of ears to understand what a 
great Daheotah says,” returned the trapper, addressing himself 
to the expecting Mahtoree. “ The look he has given, and the 
signs he has made are enough. They understand him ; they 
wish to think of his words ; for the children of great braves, 
such as their fathers are, do nothing without much thought.” 

With this explanation, so flattering to the energy of his elo- 
quence, and so promising to his future hopes, the Teton was every 
way content. He made the customary ejaculation of assent, and 
prepared to retire. Saluting the females in the cold but dignified 
manner of his people, he drew his robe about him, and moved from 
the spot where he had stood with an air of ill-concealed triumph. 

But there had been a stricken, though a motionless and unob- 
served auditor of the foregoing scene. Not a syllable had fallen 
from the lips of the long and anxiously expected husband that 
had not gone directly to the heart of his unoffending wife. In 
this manner had he wooed her from the lodge of her father, 
and it was to listen to similar pictures of the renown and deeds 
of the greatest brave in her tribe that she had shut her ears to 
the tender tales of so many of the Sioux youths. 

16 


3G2 


THE P U A I E I E . 


As the Teton turned to leave his lodge in the manner just 
mentioned, he found this unexpected and half-forgotten object 
before him. She stood in the humble guise and with the 
shrinking air of an Indian girl, holding the pledge of their 
former love in her arms, directly in his path. Starting, the 
chief regained the marble-like indifference of countenance which 
distinguished in so remarkable a degree the restrained or more 
artificial expression of his features, and signed to her with an 
air of authority to give place. 

“ Is not Tachechana the daughter of a chief ?” demanded a 
subdued voice, in which pride struggled with anguish : “ were 
not her brothers braves ?” 

“ Go ; the men are calling their partisan. lie has no ears for 
a woman. 

“ No,” replied the supplicant ; “ it is not the voice of 

Tachechana that you hear, but this boy, speaking with the 
tongue of his mother. He is the son of a chief, and his words 
will go up to his father’s ears. Listen to what he says. 
When was Mahtoree hungry, and Tachechana had not food 
for him ? When did he go on the path of the Pawnees 
and find it empty, that my mother did not weep ? When did 
he come back with the marks of their blows, that she did 
not sing ? What Sioux girl has given a brave a son like me ? 
Look at me well, that you may know me. My eyes are the 
eagle’s. I look at the sun and laugh. In a little time the 
Dahcotahs will follow me to the hunts and on the war-path. 
Why does my father turn his eyes from the woman that gives me 
milk ? Why has he so soon forgotten the daughter of a 
mighty Sioux ?” 

There was a single instant, as the exulting father suffered his 
cold eye to wander to the face of the laughing boy, that 
the stern nature of the Teton seemed touched. But shaking off 
the grateful sentiment, like one who would gladly be rid of any 
painful, because reproachful, emotion, he laid his hand calmly on 
the arm of his wife, and led her directly in front of Inez. 
Pointing to the sweet countenance that, was beaming on her 


THE PRAIRIE. 


363 


own, with a look of tenderness and commiseration, he paused, 
to allow his wife to contemplate a loveliness which was quite as 
excellent to her ingenuous mind as it had proved dangerous to 
the character of her faithless husband. When he thought 
abundant time had passed to make the contrast sufficiently 
striking, he suddenly raised a small mirror that dangled at her 
breast, an ornament he had himself bestowed, in an hour of 
fondness, as a compliment to her beauty, and placed her own 
dark image in its place. Wrapping his robe again about him, 
the Teton motioned to the trapper to follow, and stalked 
haughtily from the lodge, muttering as he went — 

“ Mahtoree is very wise ! What nation has so great a chief 
as the Dahcotahs ?” 

Tachechana stood frozen into a statue of humility. Her mild 
and usually joyous countenance worked, as if the struggle within 
was about to dissolve the connexion between her soul and that 
more material part, whose deformity was becoming so loath- 
some. Inez and Ellen were utterly ignorant of the nature of 
her interview with her husband, though the quick and sharp- 
ened wits of the latter led her to suspect a truth to which the 
entire innocence of the former furnished no clue. They were 
both, however, about to tender those sympathies which are 
so natural to, and so graceful in the sex, when their necessity 
seemed suddenly to cease. The convulsions in the features of 
the young Sioux disappeared, and her countenance became 
cold and rigid, like chiselled stone. A single expression of sub- 
dued anguish, which had made its impression on a brow that 
had rarely before contracted with sorrow, alone remained. 
It was never removed, in all the changes of seasons, fortunes, 
and years, which, in the vicissitudes of a suffering, female, 
savage life, she was subsequently doomed to endure. As in 
the case of a premature blight, let the plant quicken and rovive 
as it may, the effects of that withering touch were always pre- 
sent. 

Tachechana first stripped her person of every vestige of those 
rude but highly prized ornaments, which the liberality of her 


304 


THE PRAIRIE. 


husband had been wont to lavish on her, and she tendered them 
meekly, and without a murmur, as an offering to the superiority 
of Inez The bracelets were forced from her wrists, the compli- 
cated mazes of beads from her leggings, and the broad silver 
band from her brow. Then she paused, long and painfully. 
But it would seem that the resolution she had once adopted was 
not to be conquered by the lingering emotions of any affection, 
however natural. The boy himself was next laid at the feet of 
her supposed rival, and well might the self-abased wife of 
the Teton believe that the burden of her sacrifice was now 
full. 

While Inez and Ellen stood regarding these several strange 
movements with eyes of wonder, a low soft musical voice 
was heard saying in a language that to them was unintel- 
ligible — 

“ A strange tongue will tell my boy the manner to become a 
man. He will hear sounds that are new, but he will learn them, 
and forget the voice of his mother. It is the will of the Wah- 
condah, and a Sioux girl should not complain. Speak to him 
softly, for his ears are very little ; when he is big, your words 
may be louder. Let him not be a girl, for very sad is the life 
of a woman. Teach him to keep his eyes on the men. Show 
him how to strike them that do him wrong, and let him never 
forget to return blow for blow. When he goes to hunt, the 
flower of the Pale-faces,” she concluded, using in bitterness the 
metaphor which had been supplied by the imagination of her 
truant husband, “ will whisper softly in his ears that the skin of 
his mother was red, and that she was once the Fawn of the 
Dahcotahs.” 

Tachechana pressed a kiss on the lips of her son, and with- 
drew to the further side of the lodge. Here she drew her light 
calico robe over her head, and took her seat, in token of 
humility, on the naked earth. All efforts to attract her atten- 
tion were fruitless. She neither heard remonstrances, nor felt 
the touch. Once or twice her voice rose, in a sort of wailing 
song, from beneath her quivering mantle, but it never mounted 


THE PRAIRIE. 


365 


into the wildness of savage music. In this manner she remained 
unseen for hours, while events were occurring without the lodge, 
which not only materially changed the complexion of her own 
fortunes, but left a lasting and deep impression on the future 
movements of the wandering Sioux. 


366 


THE PRAIRIE 


CHAPTER XXVII. 


“ I’ll no swaggerers : I am in good name and fame with the very best : — shut the 
door ; — there come no swaggerers here : I have not lived all this while, to have 
swaggering now : shut the door, I pray you.” 

Shakspeare. 


Mahtoree encountered, at the door of his lodge, Ishmael, 
Abiram, and Esther. The first glance of his eye, at tire coun- 
tenance of the heavy-moulded squatter, served to tell the 
cunning Teton, that the treacherous truce he had made with 
these dupes of his superior sagacity, was in some danger of a 
violent termination. 

“ Look you here, old grey-beard,” said Ishmael, seizing the 
trapper, and whirling him round as if he had been a top ; “ that 
I am tired of carrying on a discourse with fingers and thumbs, 
instead of a tongue, ar’ a natural fact ; so you’ll play linguistor 
and put my w r ords into Indian, without much caring whether 
they suit the stomach of a Red-skin or not.” 

“ Say on, friend,” calmly returned the trapper ; “ they shall 
be given as plainly as you send them.” 

“Friend!” repeated the squatter, eyeing the other for an 
instant with an expression of indefinable meaning. “ But it is 
no more than a word, and sounds break no bones, and survey 
no farms. Tell this thieving Sioux, then, that I come to claim 
the conditions of our solemn bargain, made at the foot of the 
rock.” 

When the trapper had rendered his meaning into the Sioux 
language, Mahtoree demanded, with an air of surprise — 

“ Is my brother cold ? buffalo skins are plenty. Is he hun- 
gry ? Let my young men carry venison into his lodges.” 

The squatter elevated his clenched fist in a menacing man- 


THE PHAIllIE. 


367 


ner, and struck it with violence on the palm of his open hand, 
by way of confirming his determination, as he answered — 

“ Tell the deceitful liar, I have not come like a beggar to pick 
his bones, but like a freeman asking for his own ; and have it I 
will. And, moreover, tell him I claim that you, too, miserable 
sinner as you ar’, should be given up to justice. There’s no 
mistake. My prisoner, my niece, and you. I demand the three 
at his hands, according to a sworn agreement.” 

The immovable old man smiled, with an expression of sin- 
gular intelligence, as he answered — 

“ Friend squatter, you ask what few men would be willing to 
grant. You would first cut the tongue from the mouth of the 
Teton, and then the heart from his bosom.” 

“ It is little that Ishmael Bush regards who or what is 
damaged in claiming his own. But put you the questions in 
straight-going Indian, and when you speak of yourself, make 
such a sign as a white man will understand, in order that I may 
know there is no foul play.” 

The trapper laughed in his silent fashion, and muttered a few 
words to himself before he addressed the chief — 

“ Let the Dahcotah open his ears very wide,” he said, “ that 
big words may have room to enter. His friend, the Big-knife, 
comes with an empty hand, and he says that the Teton must 
fill it.” 

“ Wagh ! Mahtoree is a rich chief. He is master of the 
prairies.” 

“ He must give the dark-hair.” 

The brow of the chief contracted in an ominous frown, that 
threatened instant destruction to the audacious squatter ; but as 
suddenly recollecting his policy, he craftily replied — 

“ A girl is too light for the hand of such a brave. I will fill 
it with buffaloes.” 

“He says he has need of the light-hair, too; who has his 
blood in her veins.” 

“ She shall be the wife of Mahtoree ; then the Long-knife will 
be the father of a chief.” 


368 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“And me,” continued the trapper, making one of those 
expressive signs by which the natives communicate with nearly 
the same facility as with their tongues, and turning to the 
squatter at the same time, in order that the latter might see 
he dealt fairly by him ; “ he asks for a miserable and worn-out 
trapper.” 

The Dahcotah threw his arm over the shoulder of the old 
man, with an air of great affection, before he replied to this third 
and last demand. 

“ My friend is old,” he said, “ and cannot travel far. He will 
stay with the Tetons, that they may learn wisdom from his 
words. What Sioux has a tongue like my father ! No ; let 
his words be very soft, but let them be very clear. Mahtoree 
will give skins and buffaloes. He will give the young men of 
the Pale-faces wives, but he cannot give away any who live in 
his own lodge.” 

Perfectly satisfied himself, with this laconic reply, the chief 
was moving towards his expecting counsellors, when suddenly 
returning, he interrupted the translation of the trapper by 
adding — 

“Tell the Great Buffalo” (a name by which the Tetons had 
already christened Ishmael), “ that Mahtoree has a hand which 
is always open. See,” he added, pointing to the hard and 
wrinkled visage of the attentive Esther, “ his wife is too old for 
so great a chief. Let him put her out of his lodge. Mahtoree 
loves him as a brother. He is his brother. He shall have the 
youngest wife of the Teton. Tachechana, the pride of the Sioux 
girls, shall cook his venison, and many braves will look at him 
with longing minds. Go, a Dahcotah is generous.” 

The singular coolness with which the Teton concluded this 
audacious proposal, confounded even the practised trapper. He 
stared after the retiring form of the Indian, with an astonish- 
ment he did not care to conceal, nor did he renew his attempt 
at interpretation, until the person of Mahtoree was blended with 
the cluster of warriors, who had so long, and with so character- 
istic patience, awaited his return. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


3G9 


“The Teton chief has spoken very plainly,” the old man con- 
tinued ; “ he will not give you the lady, to whom the Lord in 
heaven knows you have no claim, unless it be such as the wolf 
has to the lamb. He will not give you the child, you call your 
niece ; and therein I acknowledge that I am far from certain he 
has the same justice on his side. Moreover, neighbor squatter, 
he flatly denies your demand for me, miserable and worthless as 
I am ; nor do I think he has been unwise in so doing, seeing that 
I should have many reasons against journeying far in your com- 
pany. But he makes you an offer, which it is right and 
convenient you should know. The Teton says through 
me, who am no more than a mouth-piece, and therein 
not answerable for the sin of his words, but he says, as this 
good woman is getting past the comely age, it is reasonable for 
you to tire of such a wife. He therefore tells you to turn her 
out of your lodge, and when it is empty, he will send his own 
favorite, or rather she that was his favorite, the ‘ Skipping Fawn,’ 
as the Siouxes call her, to fill her place. You see, neighbor, 
though the Bed-skin is minded to keep your property, he is 
willing to give you wherewithal to make yourself some re- 
turn !” 

Ishmael listened to these replies to his several demands, with 
that species of gathering indignation with which the dullest tem- 
pers mount into the most violent paroxysms of rage. He even 
affected to laugh at the conceit of exchanging his long-tried 
partner for the more flexible support of the youthful Tache- 
chana, though his voice was hollow and unnatural in the effort. 
But Esther was far from giving the proposal so facetious a 
reception. Lifting her voice to its most audible key, she broke 
forth, after catching her breath like one who had been in some 
imminent danger, of strangulation, as follows : — 

“ Hoity-toity ; who set an Indian up for a maker and 
breaker of the rights of wedded wives ! Does he think a woman 
is a beast of the prairie, that she is to be chased from a village 
by dog and gun. Let the bravest squaw of them all come forth 
and boast of her doings ; can she show such a brood as mine ? 

16 * 


370 


TIIE PRAIRIE. 


A wicked tyrant is that thieving Red-skin, and a bold rogue I 
warrant me. He would be captain in-doors as well as out ! 
An honest woman is no better in* his eyes than one of 
your broomstick jumpers. And you, Ishmael Bush, the father 
of seven sons and so many comely daughters, to open your 
sinful mouth, except to curse him ! Would ye disgrace color, 
and family, and nation, by mixing white blood with red, and 
would ye be the parent of a race of mules ! The devil 
has often tempted you, my man, but never before has he set so 
cunning a snare as this. Go back among your children, 
friend ; go, and remember that you are not a prowling bear, 
but a Christian man, and thank God that you ar’ a lawful 
husband !” 

The clamor of Esther was anticipated by the judicious trap- 
per. He had easily foreseen that her meek temper would 
overflow at so scandalous a proposal as repudiation, and he now 
profited by the tempest, to retire to a place where he was at 
least safe from any immediate violence on the part of her less 
excited, but certainly more dangerous husband. Ishmael, who 
had made his demands with a stout determination to enforce 
them, was diverted by the windy torrent, like many a more 
obstinate husband, from his purpose ; and in order to appease a 
jealousy that resembled the fury with which the bear defends 
her cubs, was fain to retire to a distance from the lodge that 
was known to contain the unoffending object of the sudden 
uproar. 

“ Let your copper-colored minx come forth and show her 
tawny beauty before the face of a woman who has heard more 
than one church bell, and seen a power of real quality,” cried 
Esther, flourishing her hand in triumph, as she drove Ishmael 
and Abiram before her, like two truant boys, towards their own 
encampment. “ I warrant me, I warrant me, here is one who 
would shortly talk her down ! Never think to tarry here, my 
men ; never think to shut an eye in a camp, through which the 
devil walks as openly as if he were a gentleman, and sure of his 
welcome. Here, you Abner, Enoch, Jesse, where ar’ ye gotten 


THE PRAIRIE. 


371 


to ? Put to, put to ; if that weak-minded, soft-feeling man, 
your father, eats or drinks again in this neighborhood, we shall 
see him poisoned with the craft of the Red-skins. Not that I 
care, I, who comes into my place, when it is once lawfully 
empty ; but, Ishmael, I never thought that you, who have had one 
woman with a white skin, would find pleasure in looking on a 
brazen — ay, that she is copper ar’ a fact ; you can’t deny it, and 
I warrant me, brazen enough is she too !” 

Against this ebullition of wounded female pride, the expe- 
rienced husband made no other head, than by an occasional 
exclamation, which he intended to be the precursor of a simple 
asseveration of his own innocence. The fury of the woman 
would not be appeased. She listened to nothing but her own 
voice, and consequently nothing was heard but her mandates to 
depart. 

The squatter had collected his beasts and loaded his wagons, 
as a measure of precaution, before proceeding to the extremity 
he contemplated. Esther consequently found everything favor- 
able to her wishes. The young men stared at each other, as 
they witnessed the extraordinary excitement of their mother, 
but took little interest in an event which, in the course of their 
experience, had found so many parallels. By command of their 
father, the tents were thrown into the vehicles as a sort of 
reprisal for the want of faith in their late ally, and then the 
train left the spot, in its usual listless and sluggish order. 

As a formidable division of well armed borderers protected 
the rear of the retiring party, the Siouxes saw it depart without 
manifesting the smallest evidence of surprise or resentment. 
The savage, like the tiger, rarely makes his attack on an enemy 
who expects him ; and if the warriors of the Tetons meditated 
any hostility, it was in the still and patient manner with which 
the feline beasts watch for the incautious moment, in order to 
insure the blow. The councils of Mahtoree, however, on whom 
so much of the policy of his people depended, lay deep in the 
depository of his own thoughts. Perhaps he rejoiced at so 
easy a manner of getting rid of claims so troublesome ; perhaps 


372 


THE PRAIRIE. 


he awaited a fitting time to exhibit his power ; or it even might 
be, that matters of so much greater importance were pressing 
on his mind, that it had not leisure to devote any of its faculties 
to an event of so much indifference. 

But it would seem that while Ishmael made such a concession 
to the awakened feelings of Esther, he was far from abandoning 
his original intentions. His train followed the course of the 
river for a mile, and then it came to a halt on the brow of the 
elevated land, and in a place which afforded the necessary 
facilities. .Here he again pitched his tents, unharnessed his 
teams, sent his cattle on the bottom, and, in short, made all the 
customary preparations to pass the night, with the same cool- 
ness and deliberation as if he had not hurled an irritating 
defiance into the teeth of his dangerous neighbors. 

In the meantime the Tetons proceeded to the more regular 
business of the hour. A fierce and savage joy had existed in 
the camp, from the instant when it had been announced that 
their own chief was returning with the long-dreaded and hated 
partisan of their enemies. For many hours the crones of the 
tribe had been going from lodge to lodge, in order to stimulate 
the tempers of the warriors to such a pass, as might leave but 
little room for mercy. To one they spoke of a son, whose 
scalp was drying in the smoke of a Pawnee lodge. To another, 
they enumerated his own scars, his disgraces, and defeats ; with 
a third, they dwelt on his losses of skins and horses ; and a fourth 
was reminded of vengeance by a significant question concerning 
some flagrant adventure in which he was known to have been 
a sufferer. 

By these means the men had been so far excited as to have 
assembled, in the manner already related, though it still 
remained a matter of doubt how far they intended to carry their 
revenge. A variety of opinions prevailed on the policy of 
executing their prisoners; and Mahtoree had suspended the 
discussions, in order to ascertain how far the measure might 
propitiate, or retard, his own particular views. Hitherto the 
consultations had merely been preliminary, with a design that 


THE PRAIRIE. 


373 


each chief might discover the number of supporters his particular 
views would be likely to obtain, when the important subject 
should come before a more solemn council of the tribe. The 
moment for the latter had now arrived, and the preparations 
were made with a dignity and solemnity suited to the momen- 
tous interests of the occasion. 

With a refinement in cruelty that none but an Indian would 
have imagined, the place selected for this grave deliberation, 
was immediately about the post to which the most important 
of its subjects was attached. Middleton and Paul were brought 
in their bonds, and laid at the feet of the Pawnee ; then the men 
began to take their places, according to their several claims to 
distinction. As warrior after warrior approached, he seated 
himself in the wide circle with a mien as composed and 
thoughtful as if his mind were actually in a condition to deal 
out justice, tempered, as it should be, with the heavenly quality 
of mercy. A place was reserved for three or four of the princi- 
pal chiefs ; and a few of the oldest of the women, as withered 
as age, exposure, hardships, and lives of savage passions could 
make them, thrust themselves into the foremost circle with a 
temerity to which they were impelled by their insatiable desire 
for cruelty, and which nothing but their years and their long 
tried fidelity to the nation could have excused. 

All, but the chiefs already named, were now in their places. 
These had delayed their appearance, in the vain hope that their 
own unanimity might smoothe the way to that of their respec- 
tive factions; for, notwithstanding the superior influence of 
Mahtoree, his power was to be maintained only by constant 
appeals to the opinions of his inferiors. As these important per- 
sonages at length entered the circle in a body, their sullen looks 
and clouded brows, notwithstanding the time given for consulta- 
tion, sufficiently proclaimed the discontent which reigned among 
them. The eye of Mahtoree was varying in its expression, 
from sudden gleams, that seemed to kindle with the burning 
impulses of his soul, to that cold and guarded steadiness 
which was thought more peculiarly to become a chief in council 


374 


THE PRAIRIE. 


He took his seat with the studied simplicity of a demagogue ; 
though the keen and flashing glance that he immediately threw 
around the silent assembly, betrayed the more predominant 
temper of a tyrant. 

When all were present, an aged warrior lighted the great pipe 
of his people, and blew the smoke towards the four quarters of 
the heavens. So soon as this propitiatory offering was made, 
he tendered it to Mahtoree, who, in affected humility, passed it 
to a grey-headed chief by his side. After the influence of the 
soothing weed had been courted by all, a grave silence succeeded, 
as if each was not only qualified to, but actually did, think more 
deeply on the matters before them. Then an old Indian arose, 
and spoke as follows : — 

“ The eagle, at the falls of the endless river, was in its egg, 
many snows after my hand had struck a Pawnee. What my 
tongue says, my eyes have seen. Bohrecheena is very old. 
The hills have stood longer in their places, than he has been in 
his tribe, and the rivers were full and empty, before he was 
born ; but where is the Sioux that knows it besides myself? 
What he says, they will hear. If any of his words fall to the 
ground, they will pick them up and hold them to their ears. If 
any blow away in the wind, my young men, who are very 
nimble, will catch them. Now listen. Since water ran and 
trees grew, the Sioux has found the Pawnee on his war-path. 
As the cougar loves the antelope, the Dahcotah loves his enemy. 
When the wolf finds the fawn, does he lie down and sleep ? 
When the panther sees the doe at the spring, does he shut his 
eyes ? You know that he does not. He drinks too ; but it is 
of blood ! A Sioux is a leaping panther, a Pawnee a trembling 
deer. Let my children hear me. They will find my words 
good. I have spoken.” 

A deep guttural exclamation of assent broke from the lips of 
all the partisans of Mahtoree, as they listened to this sanguinary 
advice from one who was certainly among the most aged men 
of the nation. That deeply seated love of vengeance, which 
formed so prominent a feature in their characters, was gratified 


TIIE PRAIRIE. 


375 


by his metaphorical allusions ; and the chief himself augured 
favorably of the success of his own schemes, by the number of 
supporters who manifested themselves to be in favor of the 
counsels of his friend. But still unanimity was far from pre- 
vailing. A long and decorous pause was suffered to succeed the 
words of the first speaker, in order that all might duly delibe- 
rate on their wisdom, before another chief took on himself 
the office of refutation. The second orator, though past the 
prime of his days, was far less aged than the one who had pre- 
ceded him. He felt the disadvantage of this circumstance, and 
endeavored to counteract it, as far as possible, by the excess of 
his humility. 

“ I am but an infant,” he commenced, looking furtively around 
him, in order to detect how far his well established character for 
prudence and courage contradicted his assertion. “I have 
lived with the women since my father has been a man. If my 
head is getting grey, it is not because I am old. Some of the 
snow which fell on it while I have been sleeping on the war- 
paths, has frozen there, and the hot sun, near the Osage villages, 
has not been strong enough to melt it.” A low murmur was 
heard, expressive of admiration of the services to which he thus 
artfully alluded. The orator modestly awaited for the feeling to 
subside a little, and then he continued, with increasing energy, 
encouraged by their commendations. “ But the eyes of a young 
brave are good. He can see very far. He is a lynx. Look at 
me w r ell. I will now turn my back, that you. may see both sides 
of me. Now do you know I am your friend, for you look on a 
part that a Pawnee never yet saw. Now look at my face ; not 
in this seam, for there your eyes can never see into my spirit. 
It is a hole cut by a Konza. But here is an opening made by the 
Wahcondah, through which you may look into the soul. What 
am I? A Dahcotah, within and without. You know it. 
Therefore hear me. The blood of every creature on the prairie 
is red. Who can tell the spot where a Pawnee was struck, from 
the place where my young men took a bison ? It is of the same 
color. The Master of Life made them for each other. He made 


376 


THE PRAIRIE. 


them alike. But will the grass grow green where a Pale-face is 
killed? My young men must not think that nation so nume- 
rous, that it will not miss a warrior. They call them over often, 
and say, Where are my sons ? If they miss one, they will send 
into the prairies to look for him. If they cannot find him, they 
will tell their runners to ask for him, among the Siouxes. My 
brethren, the Big-knives are not fools. There is a mighty medi- 
cine of their nation now among us ; who can tell how loud is his 
voice, or how long is his arm ? ” 

The speech of the orator, who was beginning to enter into his 
subject with warmth, was cut short by the impatient Mahtoree, 
who suddenly arose and exclaimed, in a voice in which authority 
was mingled with contempt, and at the close with a keen tone 
of irony also — 

“ Let my young men lead the evil spirit of the Pale* faces to 
the council. My brother shall see his medicine face to face I 19 

A death-like and solemn stillness succeeded this extraordinary 
interruption. It not only involved a deep offence against the 
sacred courtesy of debate, but the mandate was likely to brave 
the unknown power of one of those incomprehensible beings, 
whom few Indians were enlightened enough at that day to 
regard without reverence, or few hardy enough to oppose. The 
subordinates, however, obeyed, and Obed was led forth from the 
lodge mounted on Asinus, with a ceremony and state which 
was certainly intended for derision, but which nevertheless was 
greatly enhanced by fear. As they entered the ring, Mahtoree, 
who had foreseen and had endeavored to anticipate the influence 
of the Doctor by bringing him into contempt, cast an eye around 
the assembly in order to gather his success in the various dark 
visages by which he was encircled. 

Truly nature and art had combined to produce such an effect 
from the air and appointments of the naturalist, as might have 
made him the subject of wonder in any place. His head had 
been industriously shaved, after the most approved fashion of 
Sioux taste. A gallant scalp-lock, which would probably not 
have been spared had the Doctor himself been consulted in the 


THE PRAIRIE. 


3 11 


matter, was all that remained of an exuberant, and at that par- 
ticular season of the year, far from uncomfortable head of hair. 
Thick coats of paint had been laid on the naked poll, and certain 
fanciful designs in the same material had even been extended 
into the neighborhood of the eyes and mouth, lending to the 
keen expression of the former a look of twinkling cunning, and 
to the dogmatism of the latter not a little of the grimness of 
necromancy. He had been despoiled of his upper garments, 
and in their stead his body was sufficiently protected from the 
cold by a fantastically painted robe of dressed deer-skin. As if 
in mockery of his pursuit, sundry toads, frogs, lizards, butterflies, 
&c., all duly prepared to take their places at some future day 
in his own private cabinet, were attached to the solitary lock on 
his head, to his ears, and to various other conspicuous parts of 
his person. If, in addition to the effect produced by .these 
quaint auxiliaries to his costume, we add the portentous and 
troubled gleamings of doubt, which rendered his visage doubly 
austere, and proclaimed the misgivings of the worthy Obed’s 
mind as he beheld his personal dignity thus prostrated, and 
what was of far greater moment in his eyes, himself led forth, 
as he firmly believed, to be the victim of some heathenish sacri- 
fice, the reader will find no difficulty in giving credit to the 
sensation of awe that was already excited by his appearance in a 
band already more than half prepared to worship him as a pow- 
erful agent of the evil spirit. 

Weucha led Asinus directly into the centre of the circle, and 
leaving them together (for the legs of the naturalist were 
attached to the beast in such a manner, that the two animals 
might be said to be incorporated, and to form a new order), he 
withdrew to his proper place, gazing at the conjuror, as he 
rotircd, with a wonder and admiration that were natural to the 
grovelling dulness of his mind. 

The astonishment seemed mutual, between the spectators and 
the subject of this strange exhibition. If the Tetons contem- 
plated the mysterious attributes of the medicine with awe and 
fear, the Doctor gazed on every side of him, with a mixture of 


378 


TIIE PRAIRIE. 


quite as many extraordinary emotions, in which the latter sou- 
sation, however, formed no inconsiderable ingredient. Every- 
where his eyes, which just at that moment possessed a secret 
magnifying quality, seemed to rest on several dark, savage, and 
obdurate countenances at once, from none of which could he 
extract a solitary gleam of sympathy or commiseration. At 
length his wandering gaze fell on the grave and decent features 
of the trapper, who, with Hector at his feet, stood in the edge 
of the circle, leaning on that rifle which he had been permitted, 
as an acknowledged friend, to resume, and apparently musing 
on the events that were likely to succeed a council marked by 
so many and such striking ceremonies. 

“ Venerable Venator, or hunter, or trapper,” said the discon- 
solate Obed, “ I rejoice greatly in meeting thee again. I fear 
that the precious time, which had been allotted me, in order to 
complete a mighty labor, is drawing to a premature close, and I 
would gladly unburden my mind to one who, if not a pupil of 
science, has at least some of the knowledge which civilization 
imparts to its meanest subjects. Doubtless many and earnest 
inquiries will be made after my fate, by the learned societies of 
the world, and perhaps expeditions will be sent into these re- 
gions to remove any doubt which may arise on so important a 
subject. I esteem myself happy that a man, who speaks the 
vernacular, is present, to preserve the record of my end. You 
will say that after a well spent and glorious life, I died a martyr 
to science, and a victim to mental darkness. As I expect to be 
particularly calm and abstracted in my last moments, if you add 
a few details concerning the fortitude and scholastic dignity with 
which I met my death, it may serve to encourage future aspi- 
rants for similar honors, and assuredly give offence to no one. 
And now, friend trapper, as a duty I owe to human nature, I 
will conclude by demanding if all hope has deserted me, or if 
any means still exist by which so much valuable information 
may be rescued from the grasp of ignorance, and preserved to 
the pages of natural history.” 

The old man lent an attentive ear to this melancholy appoal, 


THE PRAIRIE. 379 

and apparently lie reflected on every side of the important 
question, before he would presume to answer. 

“ I take it, friend physicianer,” he at length gravely replied) 
“ that the chances of life and death, in your particular case, 
depend altogether on the will of Providence, as it may be 
pleased to manifest it through the accursed windings of Indian 
cunning. For my own part, I see no great difference in the 
main end to be gained, inasmuch as it can matter no one greatly, 
yourself excepted, whether you live or die.” 

“ Would you account the fall of a corner-stone from the 
foundations of the edifice of learning, a matter of indifference to 
contemporaries or to posterity ?” interrupted Obed. “ BesideSj 
my aged associate,” he reproachfully added, “ the interest that 
a man has in his own existence, is by no means trifling, however 
it may be eclipsed by his devotion to more general and philan- 
thropic feelings.” • 

“What I would say is this,” resumed the trapper, who was 
far from understanding all the subtle distinctions with which his 
more learned companion so often saw fit to embellish his dis- 
course ; “ there is but one birth and one death to all things, be 
it hound or be it deer ; be it red skin or be it white. Both 
are in the hands of the Lord, it being as unlawful for man to 
strive to hasten the one, as impossible to prevent the other. But 
I will not say that something may not be done to put the last 
moment aside, for a while at least, and therefore it is a question, 
that any one has a right to put to his own wisdom, how far ho 
will go, and how much pain he will suffer, to lengthen out a 
time that may have been too long already. Many a dreary 
winter and scorching summer has gone by since I have turned 
to the right hand or to the left, to add an hour to a life that has 
already stretched beyond fourscore years. I keep myself as 
readv to answer to my name as a soldier at evening roll-call. In 
my judgment, if your cases are left to Indian tempers, the policy 
of the Great Sioux will lead his people to sacrifice you all ; nor 
do I put much dependence on his seeming love for me ; there- 
fore it becomes a question whether you are ready for such a 


380 


THE PRAIRIE. 


journey ; and if, being ready, wnether this is not as good a time 
to start as another. Should my opinion be asked, thus far will 
I give it in your favor ; that is to say, it is my belief your life 
has been innocent enough, touching any great offences that you 
may have committed, though honesty compels me to add, that 
T think all you can lay claim to, on the score of activity in 
deeds, will not amount to anything worth naming in the great 
account.” 

Obed turned a rueful eye on the calm, philosophic counte- 
nance of the other, as he answered with so discouraging a state- 
ment of his case, clearing his throat, as he did so, in order to 
conceal the desperate concern which began to beset his faculties, 
with a vestige of that pride, which rarely deserts poor human 
nature, even in the greatest emergencies. 

“ I believe, venerable hunter,” he replied, “ considering the 
question in all its bearings, and assuming that your theory is 
just, it will be the safest to conclude that I am not prepared to 
make so hasty a departure, and that measures of precaution 
should be forthwith resorted to.” 

“Being in that mind,” returned the deliberate trapper, “I 
will act for you as I would for myself ; though as time has 
begun to roll down the hill with you, I will just advise that you 
look to your case speedily, for it may so happen that your name 
will be heard when quite as little prepared to answer to it as 
now.” 

With this amicable understanding, the old man drew back 
again into the ring, where he stood musing on the course he 
should now adopt, with the singular mixture of decision and 
resignation that proceeded from his habits and his humility, 
and which united to form a character, in which excessive 
energy, and the most meek submission to the will of Providence, 
were oddly enough combined. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


381 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 

“ The witch, in Smithfield, shall be burned to ashes 
And you three shall be strangled on the gallows.” 

Siiakspea^e. 

The Siouxes had awaited the issue of the foregoing dialogue 
with commendable patience. Most of the band were restrained 
by the secret awe with which they regarded the mysterious 
character of Obed ; while a few of the more intelligent chiefs 
gladly profited by the opportunity, to arrange their thoughts 
for the struggle that was plainly foreseen. Mahtoree, influ- 
enced by neither of these feelings, was content to show the 
trapper how much he conceded to his pleasure ; and when the 
old man discontinued the discourse, he received from the chief 
a glance that was intended to remind him of the patience with 
which he had awaited his movements. A profound and motion- 
less silence succeeded the short interruption. Then Mahtoree 
arose, evidently prepared to speak. First placing himself in an 
attitude of dignity, he turned a steady and severe look on the 
whole assembly. The expression of his eye, however, changed 
as it glanced across the different countenances of his supporters 
and of his opponents. To the former the look, though stern, 
was not threatening, while it seemed to tell the latter all the 
hazards they incurred, in daring to brave the resentment of one 
so powerful. 

Still, in the midst of so much hauteur and confidence, the 
sagacity and cunning of the Teton did not desert him. When 
he had thrown the gauntlet, as it were, to the whole tiibe, and 
sufficiently asserted his claim to. superiority, his mien became 
more affable and his eye less angry. Then it was that he 
raised his voice, in the midst of a death-like stillness, varying 


382 


THE PRAIRIE. 


its tones to suit the changing character of his images, and of 
his eloquence. 

“ What is a Sioux ?” the chief sagaciously began ; “ he is 
ruler of the prairies, and master of its beasts. The fishes in the 
‘ river of troubled waters ’ know him, and come at his call. He 
is a fox in counsel ; an eagle in sight ; a grizzly bear in combat. 
A Dahcotah is a man 1” After waiting for the low murmur of 
approbation which followed this flattering portrait of his people 
to subside, the Teton continued — “What is a Pawnee? A 
thief, who only steals from women; a Red-skin who is not 
brave ; a hunter that begs for his venison. In counsel he is a 
squirrel, hopping from place to place ; he is an owl, that goes on 
the prairies at night ; in battle he is an elk, whose legs are long. 
A Pawnee is a woman.” Another pause succeeded, during 
which a yell of delight broke from several mouths, and a 
demand was made that the taunting words should be translated 
to the unconscious subject of their biting contempt. The old 
man took his cue from the eyes of Mahtoree, and complied. 
Hard-Heart listened gravely, and then, as if apprised that his 
time to speak had not arrived, he once more bent his look on the 
vacant air. The orator watched his countenance, with an expres- 
sion that manifested how inextinguishable was the hatred he felt 
for the only chief, far and near, whose fame might advanta- 
geously be compared with his own. Though disappointed in not 
having touched the pride of one whom he regarded as a boy, 
he proceeded, what he considered as far more important, to 
quicken the tempers of the men of his own tribe, in order that 
they might be prepared to work his savage purposes. “ If the 
earth was covered with rats, which are good for nothing,” he 
said, “ there would be no room for buffaloes, which give food and 
clothes to an Indian. If the prairies were covered with Pawnees, 
there would be no room for the foot of a Dahcotah. A Loup is 
a rat, a Sioux a heavy buffalo ; let the buffaloes tread upon the 
rats, and make room for themselves. 

“ My brothers, a little child has spoken to you. He tells you 
his hair is not grey, but frozen ; — that the grass will not grow 


THE PRAIRIE. 


383 


where a Pale-face has died ! Does he know the color of the 
blood of a Big-knife ? No ! I know he does not ; he has never 
seen it. What Dahcotah besides Mahtoree has ever struck a 
Pale-face? Not one. But Mahtoree must be silent. Every 
Teton will shut his ears when he speaks. The scalps over his 
lodge w r ere taken by the women. They were taken by Mahto- 
ree, and he is a woman. His mouth is shut ; he waits for the 
feasts, to sing among the girls !” 

Notwithstanding the exclamations of regret and resentment 
which followed so abasing a declaration, the chief took his seat, 
as if determined to speak no more. But the murmurs grew 
louder and more general, and there were threatening symptoms 
that the council would dissolve itself in confusion ; and he arose 
and resumed his speech, by changing his manner to the fierce 
and hurried enunciation of a warrior bent on revenge. 

“ Let my young men go look for Tetao !” he cried ; “ they 
will find his scalp drying in Pawnee smoke. Where is the son 
of Bohrecheena ? Ilis bones are whiter than the faces of his 
murderers. Is Mahhah asleep in his lodge ? You know it is 
many moons since he started for the blessed prairies ; would he 
were here, that he might say of what color was the hand that 
took his scalp !” 

In this strain the artful chief continued for many minutes, 
calling those warriors by name who were known to have met 
their deaths in battle with the Pawnees, or in some of those law- 
less frays which so often occurred between the Sioux bands and 
a class of white men who were but little removed from them in 
the qualities of civilization. Time was not given to reflect on the 
merits, or rather the demerits, of most of the different individuals 
to w r hom he alluded, in consequence of the rapid manner in which 
lie ran over their names ; but so cunningly did he time his 
events, and so thrillingly did he make his appeals, aided as they 
were by the power of his deep-toned and stirring voice, that 
each of them struck an answering chord in the breast of some 
one of his auditors. 


384 


THE PRAIRIE. 


It was in the midst of one of liis highest flights of eloquence, 
that a man so aged as to walk with the greatest difficulty, 
entered the very centre of the circle, and. took his stand directly 
in front of the speaker. An ear of great acuteness might possi- 
bly have detected that the tones of the orator faltered a little, as 
his flashing look first fell on this unexpected object ; though the 
change was so trifling, that none but such as thoroughly knew 
the parties would have suspected it. The stranger had once 
been as distinguished for his beauty and proportions, as had 
been his eagle eye for its irresistible and terrible glance. But 
his skin was now wrinkled, and his features furrowed with so 
many scars as to have obtained for him, half a century before, 
from the French of the Canadas, a title which has been borne by 
so many of the heroes of France, and which had now been 
adopted into the language of the wild horde of whom we are 
writing, as the one most expressive of the deeds of their own 
brave. The murmur of Le Balafre that ran through the assembly 
when he appeared, announced not only his name, and the high 
estimation of his character, but how extraordinary his visit was 
considered. As he neither spoke nor moved, however, the 
sensation created by his appearance soon subsided, and then 
every eye was again turned upon the speaker, and every ear once 
more drank in the intoxication of his maddening appeals. 

It would have been easy to have traced the triumph of 
Mahtoree in the reflecting countenances of his auditors. It was 
not long before a look of ferocity and of revenge was to be seen 
seated on the grim visages of most of the warriors, and each new 
and crafty allusion to the policy of extinguishing their enemies 
was followed by fresh and less restrained bursts of approbation. 
In the height of this success the Teton closed his speech by a 
rapid appeal to the pride and hardihood of his native band, and 
suddenly took his seat. 

In the midst of the murmurs of applause which succeeded so 
remarkable an effort of eloquence, a low, feeble, and hollow voice 
was heard rising on the ear, as if it rolled from the inmost cavi- 


THE PRAIRIE. 


385 


ties of the human chest, and gathered strength and energy as it 
issued into the air. A solemn stillness followed the sounds, and 
then the lips of the aged man were first seen to move. 

“ The day of Le Balafre is near its end,” were the first words 
that were distinctly audible. “ He is like a buffalo on whom 
the hair will grow no longer. He will soon be ready to leave 
his lodge, to go in search of another that is far from the villages 
of the Siouxes ; therefore, what he has to say concerns not him, 
but those he leaves behind him. His words are like the fruit on 
the tree, ripe, and fit to be given to chiefs. 

“ Many snows have fallen since Le Balafre has been found on 
the war-path. His blood has been very hot, but it has had time 
to cool. The Wahcondah gives him dreams of war no longer . 
he sees that it is better to live in peace.” 

“My brothers, one foot is turned to the happy hunting- 
grounds, the other will soon follow, and ' then an old chief will 
be seen looking for the prints of his father’s moccasins, that 
he may make no mistake, but be sure to come before the 
Master of Life by the same path as so many good Indians have 
already travelled. But who will follow ? Le Balafre has no 
son. His oldest has ridden too many Pawnee horses ; the 
bones of the youngest have been gnawed by Konza dogs ? Le 
Balafre has come to look for a young arm on which he may lean, 
and to find a son, that when he is gone his lodge may not be 
empty. Tachecana, the skipping fawn of the Tetons, is too weak 
to prop a warrior who is old. She looks before her, and not 
backwards. Her mind is in the lodge of her husband.” 

The enunciation of the veteran warrior had been calm, but • 
distinct and decided. His declaration was received in silence ; 
and though several of the chiefs, who were in the counsels of 
Mahtoree, turned their eyes on their leader, none presumed to 
oppose so aged and so venerated a brave, in a resolution that 
was strictly in conformity to the usages of the nation. The 
Teton himself was content to await the result with seeming com- 
posure, though the gleams of ferocity that played about his eye ? 
occasionally betrayed the nature of those feelings with which ho 

1 1 


386 


THE PRAIRIE. 


witnessed a procedure that was likely to rob him of that one of 
all his intended victims whom he most hated. 

In the meantime Le Balafre moved with a slow and painful 
step towards the captives. He stopped before the person of 
Hard-Heart, whose faultless form, unchanging eye, and lofty 
mien, he contemplated long, with high and evident satisfaction. 
Then making a gesture of authority, he awaited until his order 
had been obeyed, and the youth was released from the post and 
his bonds by the same blow of the knife. When the young 
warrior was led nearer to his dimmed and failing sight, the 
examination was renewed with strictness of scrutiny, and that 
admiration which physical excellence is so apt to excite in the 
breast of a savage. 

“ It is good,” the wary veteran murmured, when he found 
that all his skill in the requisites of a brave could detect no 
blemish ; “ this is a leaping panther ! Does my son speak 
with the tongue of a Teton ?” 

The intelligence which lighted the eyes of the captive, betrayed 
how well he understood the question, but still he was far too 
haughty to communicate his ideas through the medium of a 
language that belonged to a hostile people. Some of the sur- 
rounding warriors explained to the old chief, that the captive 
was a Pawnee-Loup. 

“ My son opened his eyes on the ‘ waters of the wolves,’ ” 
said Le Balafre, in the language of that nation, “ but he will 
shut them in the bend of the ‘ river with a troubled stream.’ 
He was born a Pawnee, but he will die a Dahcotah. Look at 
me. I am a sycamore that once covered many with my shadow. 
The leaves are fallen and the branches begin to drop. But a 
single sucker is springing from my roots ; it is a little vine, and 
it winds itself about a tree that is green. I have long looked 
for one fit to grow by my side. Now have I found him. Le 
Balafre is no longer without a son ; his name will not be 
forgotten when he is gone ! Men of the Tetons, I take this 
youth into my lodge.” 

No one was bold enough to dispute a right that had so often 


THE PRAIRIE. 


387 


been exercised by warriors far inferior to the present speaker, 
and the adoption was listened to in grave and respectful silence. 
Le Balafre took his intended son by the arm, and leading him 
into the very centre of the circle, he stepped aside with an air 
of triumph, in order that the spectators might approve of his 
choice. Mahtoree betrayed no evidence of his intentions, but 
rather seemed to await a moment better suited to the crafty 
policy of his character. The more experienced and sagacious 
chiefs distinctly foresaw the utter impossibility of two partisans 
so renowned, so hostile, and who had so long been rivals in fame, 
as their prisoner and their native leader, existing amicably in 
the same tribe. Still the character of Le Balafre was so impos- 
ing, and the custom to which he had resorted so sacred, that 
none dared to lift a voice in opposition to the measure. They 
watched the result with increasing interest, but with a coldness 
of demeanor that concealed the nature of their inquietude. 
From this state of embarrassment, and as it might readily have 
proved of disorganization, the tribe was unexpectedly relieved 
by the decision of the one most interested in the success of the 
aged chiefs designs. 

During the whole of the foregoing scene it would have been 
difficult to have traced a single distinct emotion in the lineaments 
of the captive. He had heard his release proclaimed, with the 
same indifference as the order to bind him to the stake. But, 
now that the moment had arrived when it became necessary to 
make his election, he spoke in a way to prove that the fortitude 
which had brought him so distinguished a name, had in no 
degree deserted him. 

“ My father is very old, but he has not yet looked upon every- 
thing,” said Hard-Heart, in a voice so clear as to be heard by 
all in presence. “He has never seen a buffalo change to a 
bat ; he will never see a Pawnee become a Sioux !” 

There was a suddenness, and yet a calmness in the manner of 
delivering this decision, which assured most of the auditors that 
it was unalterable. The heart of Le Balafr6, however, was 
yearning towards the youth, and the fondness of age was not so 


388 


THE PRAIRIE. 


readily repulsed. Reproving the burst of admiration and 
triumph to which the boldness of the declaration and the 
freshened hopes of revenge had given rise, by turning his 
gleaming eye around the band, the veteran again addressed his 
adopted child, as if his purpose was not to be denied. 

“ It is well,” he said ; “ such are the words a brave should 
use, that the warriors may see his heart. The day has been 
when the voice of Le Balafre was loudest among the lodges of 
the Konzas. But the root of a white hair is wisdom. My 
child will show the Tetons that he is brave, by striking their 
enemies. Men of the Dahcotahs, this is my son !” 

The Pawnee hesitated a moment, and then stepping in front 
of the chief, he took his hard and wrinkled hand, and laid it with 
reverence on his head, as if to acknowledge the extent of his 
obligation. Then recoiling a step, he raised his person to its 
greatest elevation, and looked upon the hostile band by whom 
he was environed, with an air of loftiness and disdain, as he spoke 
aloud in the language of the Siouxes — 

“ Hard-Heart has looked at himself within and without. He 
has thought of all he has done in the hunts and in the wars. 
Everywhere he is the same. There is no change. He is in all 
things a Pawnee. He has struck so many Tetons that he could 
never eat in their lodges. His arrows would fly backwards ; the 
point of his lance would be on the wrong end ; their friends 
would weep at every whoop he gave ; their enemies would laugh. 
Do the Tetons know a Loup ? Let them look at him again. 
His head is painted ; his arm is flesh ; his heart is rock. When 
the Tetons see the sun come from the Rocky Mountains, and 
move towards the land of the Pale-faces, the mind of Hard- 
Heart will soften, and his spirit will become Sioux. Until that 
day he will live and die a Pawnee.” 

A yell of delight, in which admiration and ferocity were 
strangely mingled, interrupted the speaker, and but too clearly 
announced the character of his fate. The captive awaited a 
moment for the commotion to subside, and then turning again 
to Le Balafre, he continued, in tones conciliating and kind, as if 


THE PRAIRIE. 


389 


he felt the propriety of softening his refusal, in a manner not to 
wound the pride of one who would so gladly be his bene- 
factor. 

“ Let my father lean heavier on the fawn of the Dahcotahs,” 
he said : “ she is weak now, but as her lodge fills with young, she 
will be stronger. See,” he added, directing the eyes of tho 
other to the earnest countenance of the attentive trapper ; 
“ Hard -Heart is not without a grey-head to show him the 
path to the blessed prairies. If he ever has another father, it 
shall be that just warrior.” 

Le Balafre turned away in disappointment from the youth, 
and approached the stranger who had thus anticipated his 
design. The examination between these two aged men was 
long, mutual, and curious. It was not easy to detect the real 
character of the trapper, through the mask which the hardships 
of so many years had laid upon his features, especially when 
aided by his wild and peculiar attire. Some moments elapsed 
before the Teton spoke, and then it was in doubt whether he 
addressed one like himself, or some wanderer of that race who, 
he had heard, were spreading themselves like hungry locusts 
throughout the land. 

“ The head of my brother is very white,” he said ; “ but the 
eye of Le Balafre is no longer like the eagle’s. Of what color is 
his skin ?” 

“ The Wahcondah made me like these you see waiting for a 
Dahcotah judgment ; but fair and foul has colored me darker 
than the skin of a fox. What of that ! though the bark is 
ragged and riven, the heart of the tree is sound.” 

“ My brother is a Big-knife ! Let him turn his face towards 
the setting sun, and open his eyes. Does he see the salt lake 
beyond the mountains ?” 

“ The time has been, Teton, when few could see the white on 
an eagle’s head further than I ; but the glare of fourscore and 
seven winters has dimmed my eyes, and but little can I boast of 
sight in my latter days. Does the Sioux think a Pale-face is a 
god, that he can look through hills !” 


390 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ Then let my brother look at me. I am nigh him, and he 
can see that I am a foolish Red-man. Why cannot his people 
see everything, since they crave all ?” 

“ I understand you, chief, nor will I gainsay the justice of your 
words, seeing that they are too much founded in truth. But 
though born of the race you love so little, my worst enemy, not 
even a lying Mingo, would dare to say that I ever laid hands on 
the goods of another, except such as were taken in manful war- 
fare ; or that I ever coveted more ground than the Lord has 
intended each man to fill.” 

“ And yet my brother has come among the Red-skins to find 
a son ?” 

The trapper laid a finger on the naked shoulder of Le Balafre, 
and looked into his scarred countenance with a wistful and confi- 
dential expression, as he answered — 

“ Ay ; but it was only that I might do good to the boy. If 
you think, Dahcotah, that I adopted the youth in order to prop 
my age, you do as much injustice to my good-will as you seem 
to know little of the merciless intentions of your own people. I 
have made him my son, that he may know that one is left behind 
him. Peace, Hector, peace ! Is this decent, pup, when grey 
heads are counselling together, to break in upon their discourse 
with the whinings of a hound ! The dog is old, Teton ; and 
though well taught in respect to behavior, he is getting, like 
ourselves, I fancy, something forgetful of the fashions of his 
youth.” 

Further discourse, between these veterans, was interrupted by 
a discordant yell, which burst at that moment from the lips of 
the dozen withered crones, who have already been mentioned 
as having forced themselves into a conspicuous part of the circle. 
The outcry was excited by a sudden change in the air of Hard- 
Heart. When the old men turned towards the youth, they saw 
him standing in the very centre of the ring, with his head erect, 
his eye fixed on vacancy, one leg advanced and an arm a little 
raised, as if all his faculties were absorbed in the act of listening. 
A smile lighted his countenance for a single moment, and then 


THE PRAIRIE. 


391 


tlie whole man sank again into liis former look of dignity and 
coldness, suddenly recalled to self-possession. The movement had 
been construed into contempt, and even the tempers of the chiefs 
began to be excited. Unable to restrain their fury, the women 
broke into the circle in a body, and commenced their attack 
by loading the captive with the most bitter revilings. They 
boasted of the various exploits, which their sons had achieved 
at the expense of the different tribes of the Pawnees. They 
undervalued his own reputation, and told him to look at Mahto- 
ree, if he had never yet seen a warrior. They accused him of 
having been suckled by a doe, and of having drunk in cowardice 
with his mother’s milk. In short, they lavished upon their 
unmoved captive a torrent of that vindictive abuse, in which the 
women of the savages are so well known to excel, but which 
has been too often described to need a repetition here. 

The effect of this outbreaking was inevitable. Le Balafre 
turned away disappointed, and hid himself in the crowd ; while 
the trapper, whose honest features were working with inward 
emotion, pressed nigher to his young friend, as those who are 
linked to the criminal by ties so strong as to brave the opinions 
of men, are often seen to stand about the place of execution 
to support his dying moments. The excitement soon spread 
among the inferior warriors, though the chiefs still forbore to 
make the signal which committed the victim to their mercy. 
Mahtoree, who had awaited such a movement among his fellows, 
with the wary design of concealing his own jealous hatred, soon 
grew weary of delay, and, by a glance of his eye, encouraged 
the tormentors to proceed. 

Weucha, who, eager for this sanction, had long stood watch- 
ing the countenance of the chief, bounded forward at the signal 
like a bloodhound loosened from the leash. Forcing his way 
into the centre of the hags, who were already proceeding from 
abuse to violence, he reproved their impatience, and bade them 
wait until a warrior had begun to torment, and then they should 
see their victim shed tears like a woman. 

The heartless savage commenced his efforts by flourishing 


392 


THE PRAIRIE. 


Lis tomahawk about the head of the captive, in such a manner 
as to give reason to suppose that each blow would bury the 
weapon in the flesh, while it was so governed as not to touch 
the skin. To this customary expedient, Hard-Heart was perfect- 
ly insensible. His eye kept the same steady, riveted look on 
the air, though the glittering axe described in its evolutions a 
bright circle of light before his countenance. Frustrated in this 
attempt, the callous Sioux laid the cold edge on the naked head 
of his victim, and began to describe the different manners in 
which a prisoner might be flayed. The women kept time to his 
cruelties with their taunts, and endeavored to force some expres- 
sion of the lingerings of nature from the insensible features of 
the Pawnee. But he evidently reserved himself for the chiefs, 
and for those moments of extreme anguish, when the loftiness 
of his spirit might evince itself in a manner better becoming his 
high and untarnished reputation. 

The eyes of the trapper followed every movement of the 
tomahawk with the interest of a real father, until at length, 
unable to command his indignation, he exclaimed — 

“ My son has forgotten his cunning. This is a low-minded 
Indian, and one easily hurried into folly. I cannot do the thing 
myself, for my traditions forbid a dying warrior to revile his 
persecutors, but the gifts of a Red-skin are different. Let the 
Pawnee say the bitter words and purchase an easy death. I 
will answer for his success, provided he speaks before the grave 
men set their wisdom to back the folly of this fool.” 

The savage Sioux, who heard his words without comprehend- 
ing their meaning, turned to the speaker and menaced him with 
death for his temerity. 

“ Ay, work your will,” said the unflinching old man ; “I am 
as ready now as I shall be to-morrow. Though it would be a 
death that an honest man might not wish to die. Look at that 
noble Pawnee, Teton, and see what a Red-skin may become, 
who fears the Master of Life, and follows his laws. How many 
of your people has he sent to the distant prairies !” he continued 
in a sort of pious fraud, thinking, that while the danger menaced 


THE PRAIRIE. 


393 


himself, there could surely be no sin in extolling the merits of 
another; “how many howling Siouxes has he struck, like a 
warrior in open combat, while arrows were sailing in the air 
plentier than flakes of falling snow ! Go ! will Weucha speak 
the name of one enemy he has ever struck ?” 

“ Ilard-Heart !” shouted the Sioux, turning in his fury, and 
aiming a deadly blow at the head of his victim. His arm fell 
into the hollow of the captive’s hand. For a single moment 
the two stood, as if entranced in that attitude, the one paralysed 
by so unexpected a resistance, and the other bending his head, 
not to meet his death, but in the act of the most intense atten- 
tion. The women screamed with triumph, for they thought the 
nerves of the captive had at length failed him. The trapper 
trembled for the honor of his friend ; and Hector, as if conscious 
of what was passing, raised his nose into the air, and uttered a 
piteous howl. 

But the Pawnee hesitated, only for that moment. Raising 
the other hand, like lightning, the tomahawk flashed in the air, 
and Weucha sank to his feet, brained to the eye. Then cutting 
a way with the bloody weapon, he darted through the opening 
left by the frightened women, and seemed to descend the decli- 
vity at a single bound. 

Had a bolt from Heaven fallen in the midst of the Teton band 
it would not have occasioned greater consternation than this 
act of desperate hardihood. A shrill plaintive cry burst from 
the lips of all the women, and there was a moment that even 
the oldest warriors appeared to have lost their faculties. This 
stupor endured only for the instant. It was succeeded by a yell 
of revenge, that burst from a hundred throats, while as many 
warriors started forward at the cry, bent on the most bloody 
retribution. But a powerful and authoritative call from Mahto- 
ree arrested every foot. The chief, in whose countenance 
disappointment and rage were struggling with the affected com- 
posure of his station, extended an arm towards the river, and 
the whole mystery was explained. 

Hard-Heart had already crossed half the bottom which lay 

17 * 


394 


THE PRAIRIE. 


between the acclivity and the water. At this precise moment a 
band of armed and mounted Pawnees turned a swell, and 
galloped to the margin of the stream, into which the plunge of 
the fugitive was distinctly heard. A few minutes sufficed for 
his vigorous arm to conquer the passage, and then the shout 
from the opposite shore told the humbled Tetons the wholo 
extent of the triumph of their adversaries. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


395 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

“ If that shepherd be not in hand-fast, let him fly ; the curses he shall have, the 
tortures he shall feel, will break the back of man, the heart of monster.” 

Shakspeare. 

It will readily be seen that the event just related was 
attended by an extraordinary sensation among the Siouxes. 
In leading the hunters of the band back to the encampment, 
their chief had neglected none of the customary precautions of 
Indian prudence, in order that his trail might escape the eyes 
of his enemies. It would seem, however, that the Pawnees had 
not only made the dangerous discovery, but had managed with 
great art to draw nigh the place by the only side on which it 
was thought unnecessary to guard the approaches with the 
usual line of sentinels. The latter, who were scattered along 
the different little eminences which lay in the rear of the lodges, 
were among the last to be apprised of the danger. 

In such a crisis there was little time for deliberation. It was 
by exhibiting the force of his character in scenes of similar 
difficulty, that Mahtoree had obtained and strengthened his 
ascendency among his people, nor did he seem likely to lose it 
by the manifestation of any indecision on the present occasion. 
In the midst of the screams of the young, the shrieks of the 
women, and the wild howlings of the crones, which were 
sufficient of themselves to have created a chaos in the thoughts 
of one less accustomed to act in emergencies, he promptly 
asserted his authority, issuing his orders with the coolness of a 
veteran. 

While the warriors were arming, the boys were despatched 
to the bottom for the horses. The tents were hastily struck by 


396 


THE PRAIRIE. 


the women, and disposed of on such of the beasts as were not 
deemed fit to be trusted in combat. The infants were cast upon 
the backs of their mothers ; and those children, who were of a 
size to march, were driven to the rear, like a herd of less 
reasoning animals. Though these several movements were 
made amid outcries, and a clamor, that likened the place to 
another Babel, they were executed with incredible alacrity and 
intelligence. 

In the meantime, Mahtoree neglected no duty that belonged 
to his responsible station. From the elevation on which 
he stood, he could command a perfect view of the force and 
evolutions of the hostile party. A grim smile lighted his visage, 
when he found that, in point of numbers, his own band was 
greatly the superior. Notwithstanding this advantage, however, 
there were other points of inequality, which would probably 
have a tendency to render his success, in the approaching 
conflict, exceedingly doubtful. His people were the inhabitants 
of a more northern and less hospitable region than their 
enemies, and were far from being rich in that species of 
property, horses and arms, which constitutes the most highly 
prized wealth of a western Indian. The band in view was 
mounted to a man ; and as it had come so far to rescue, or to 
revenge, their greatest partisan, he had no reason to doubt its 
being composed entirely of braves. On the other hand, many 
of his followers were far better in a hunt than in a combat ; 
men who might serve to divert the attention of his foes, but 
from whom he could expect little desperate service. Still, his 
flashing eye glanced over a body of warriors on whom he had 
often relied, and who had never deceived him ; and though, in 
the precise position in which he found himself, he felt no 
disposition to precipitate the conflict, he certainly would have 
had no intention to avoid it, had not the presence of his women 
and children placed the option altogether in the power of his 
adversaries. 

On the other hand, the Pawnees, so unexpectedly successful in 
their first and greatest object, manifested no intention to drive 


THE PRAIRIE. 


397 


matters to an issue. The river was a dangerous barrier to pass, in 
the face of a determined foe,. and it would now have been in per- 
fect accordance with their cautious policy, to have retired for a 
season, in order that their onset might be made in the hours of 
darkness, and of seeming security. But there was a spirit in 
their chief that elevated him, for the moment, above the 
ordinary expedients of savage warfare. His bosom burned with 
the desire to wipe out that disgrace of which he had been the 
subject ; and it is possible that he believed the retiring camp 
of the Siouxes contained a prize that began to have a value in 
his eyes, far exceeding any that could be found in fifty Teton 
scalps. Let that be as it might, Hard-Heart had no sooner 
received the brief congratulations of his band, and communicated 
to the chiefs such facts as were important to be known, than he 
prepared himself to act such a part in the coming conflict, as 
would at once maintain his well earned reputation, and gratify 
his secret wishes. A led horse, one that had been long trained 
in the hunts, had been brought to receive his master, with but 
little hope that his services would ever be needed again in this 
life. With a delicacy and consideration that proved how much 
the generous qualities of the youth had touched the feelings of 
his people, a bow, a lance, and a quiver, were thrown across the 
animal, which it had been intended to immolate on the grave 
of the young brave; a species of care that would have 
superseded the necessity for the pious duty that the trapper had 
pledged himself to perform. 

Though Hard-IIeart was sensible of the kindness of his 
warriors, and believed that a chief, furnished with such appoint- 
ments, might depart with credit for the distant hunting-grounds 
of the Master of Life, he seemed equally disposed to think that 
they might be rendered quite as useful in the actual state of 
things. His countenance lighted with stern pleasure, as he 
tried the elasticity of the bow, and poised the well balanced 
spear. The glance he bestowed on the shield was more cursory 
and indifferent ; but the exultation with which he threw himself 
on the back of his favored war-horse was so great, as to break 


398 


THE PRAIRIE. 


through the forms of Indian reserve. He rode to and fro 
among his scarcely less delighted warriors, managing tho 
animal with a grace and address that no artificial rules can ever 
supply ; at times flourishing his lance, as if to assure himself 
of his seat, and at others examining critically into the condition 
of the fusee, with which he had also been furnished, with the 
fondness of one who was miraculously restored to the possession 
of treasures that constituted his pride and his happiness. 

At this particular moment, Mahtoree, having completed the 
necessary arrangements, prepared to make a more decisive 
movement. The Teton had found no little embarrassment in 
disposing of his captives. The tents of the squatter were still 
in sight, and his wary cunning did not fail to apprise him, that 
it was quite as necessary to guard against an attack from that 
quarter, as to watch the motions of his more open and more 
active foes. His first impulse had been to make the tomahawk 
suffice for the men, and to trust the females under the same 
protection as the women of his band ; but the manner in which 
many of his braves continued to regard the imaginary medicine 
of the Longknives, forewarned him of the danger of so hazardous 
an experiment on the eve of a battle. It might be deemed the 
omen of defeat. In this dilemma he motioned to a super- 
annuated warrior, to whom he had confided the charge of the 
non-combatants, and leading him apart, he placed a finger 
significantly on his shoulder, as he said, in a tone in which 
authority was tempered by confidence — 

“ When my young men are striking the Pawnees, give the 
women knives. Enough ; my father is very old ; he does not 
want to hear wisdom from a boy.” 

The grim old savage returned a look of ferocious assent, and 
then the mind of the chief appeared to be at rest on this 
important subject. From that moment he bestowed all his 
care on the achievement of his revenge, and the maintenance 
of his martial character. Throwing himself on his horse, he 
made a sign, with the air of a prince to his followers, to imitate 
his example, interrupting, without ceremony, the war songs and 


THE FKAIRIE. 


399 


Bolemn rites by which many among them were stimulating 
their spirits to deeds of daring. When all were in order, the 
whole moved with great steadiness and silence towards the 
margin of the river. 

The hostile bands were now separated by the water. The 
width of the stream was too great to admit of the use of the 
ordinary Indian missiles, but a few useless shots were 
exchanged from the fusees of the chiefs, more in bravado than 
with any expectation of doing execution. As some time was 
suffered to elapse in demonstrations and abortive efforts, we 
shall leave them, for that period, to return to such of our 
characters as remained in the hands of the savages. 

We have shed much ink in vain, and wasted quires, that 
might possibly have been better employed, if it be necessary 
now to tell the reader that few of the foregoing movements 
escaped the observation of the experienced trapper. He had 
been, in common with the rest, astonished at the sudden act of 
Hard-Heart ; and there was a single moment when a feeling of 
regret and mortification got the better of his longings to save 
the life of the youth. The simple and well intentioned old man 
would have felt, at witnessing any failure of firmness on the part 
of a warrior who had so strongly excited his sympathies, the 
same species of sorrow that a Christian parent would suffer in 
hanging over the dying moments of an impious child. But 
when, instead of an impotent and unmanly struggle for existence, 
he found that his friend had forborne, with the customary and 
dignified submission of an Indian warrior, until an opportunity 
had offered to escape, and that he had then manifested the spirit 
and decision of the most gifted brave, his gratification became 
nearly too powerful to be concealed. In the midst of the wail- 
ing and commotion which succeeded the death of Weucha and 
the escape of the captive, he placed himself nigh the persons of 
his white associates, with a determination of interfering, at every 
hazard, should the fury of the savages take that direction. 
The appearance of the hostile band spared him, however, so 
desperate and probably so fruitless an effort, and left him to 


400 


THE PRAIRIE. 


pursue his observations, and to mature his plans more at 
leisure. 

He particularly remarked that, while by far the greater part 
of the women, and all the children, together with the effects of 
the party, were hurried to the rear, probably with an order to 
secrete themselves in some of the adjacent woods, the tent of 
Mahtoree himself was left standing, and its contents undisturbed. 
Two chosen horses, however, stood near by, held by a couple of 
youths, who were too young to go into the conflict, and yet of 
an age to understand the management of the beasts. The 
trapper perceived in this arrangement the reluctance of Mahtoree 
to trust his newly-found “ flowers” beyond the reach of his eye ; 
and, at the same time, his forethought in providing against a 
reverse of fortune. Neither had the manner of the Teton, in 
giving his commission to the old savage, nor the fierce pleasure 
with which the latter had received the bloody charge, escaped 
his observation. From all these mysterious movements, the old 
man was aware that a crisis was at hand, and he summoned the 
utmost knowledge he had acquired, in so long a life, to aid him 
in the desperate conjuncture. While musing on the means to 
be employed, the Doctor again attracted his attention to himself, 
by a piteous appeal for assistance. 

“ Venerable trapper, or, as I may now say, liberator,” com- 
menced the dolorous Obed, “ it would seem that a fitting time 
has at length arrived to dissever the unnatural and altogether 
irregular connexion which exists between my inferior members 
and the body of Asinus. Perhaps if such a portion of my limbs 
were released as might leave me master of the remainder, and this 
favorable opportunity were suitably improved, by making a 
forced march towards the settlements, all hopes of preserving 
the treasures of knowledge, of which I am the unworthy recep- 
tacle, would not be lost. The importance of the results is surely 
worth the hazard of the experiment.” 

“ I know not, I know not,” returned the deliberate old man ; 
w the vermin and reptiles, which you bear about you, were 
intended by the Lord for the prairies, and I see no good in send- 


THE PRAIRIE. 


401 


ing them into regions that may not suit their natur’s. And, 
moreover, you may be of great and particular use as you now 
sit on the ass, though it creates no wonder in my mind to per- 
ceive that you are ignorant of it, seeing that usefulness is 
altogether a new calling to so bookish a man.” 

“ Of what service can I be in this painful thraldom, in which 
the animal functions are in a manner suspended, and the spiritual 
or intellectual blinded by the secret sympathy that unites mind 
to matter ? There is likely to be blood spilt between yonder 
adverse hosts of heathens ; and, though but little desiring the 
office, it would be better that I should employ myself in surgical 
experiments, than in thus wasting the precious moments, morti- 
fying both soul and body.” 

“ It is little that a Red-skin would care to have a physician to 
his hurts, while the whoop is ringing in his ears. Patience is a 
virtue in an Indian, and can be no shame to a Christian white 
man. Look at these hags of squaws, friend Doctor ; I have no 
judgment in savage tempers, if they are not bloody-minded, and 
ready to work their accursed pleasures on us all. Now, so long 
as you keep upon the ass, and maintain the fierce look which is 
far from being your natural gift, fear of so great a medicine may 
serve to keep down their courage. I am placed here, like a 
General at the opening of the battle, and it' has become my duty 
to make such use of all my force as, in my judgment, each is 
best fitted to perform. If I know these niceties, you will be 
more serviceable for your countenance just now than in any 
more stirring exploits.” - 

“ Harkee, old trapper,” shouted Paul, whose patience could 
no longer maintain itself under the calculating and prolix expla- 
nations of the other, “ suppose you cut two things I can name, 
short off. That is to say, your conversation, which is agreeable 
enough over a well-baked buffalo’s hump, and these damnable 
thongs of hide, which, according to my experience, can be plea- 
sant nowhere. A single stroke of your knife would be of more 
service, just now, than the longest speech that was ever made 
in a Kentucky court-house.” 


402 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“Ay, court-houses are the ‘ happy hunting-grounds,’ as a Red- 
skin would say, for them that are born with gifts no better than 
such as lie in the tongue. I was carried into one of the lawless 
holes myself once, and it was all about a thing of no more value 
than the skin of a deer. The Lord forgive them ! — the Lord 
forgive them ! — they knew no better, and they did according to 
their weak judgments, and therefore the more are they to be 
pitied ; and yet it was a solemn sight to see an aged man, who 
had always lived in the air, laid neck and heels by the law, and 
held up as a spectacle for the women and boys of a wasteful settle- 
ment to point their lingers at !” 

“ If such be your opinions of confinement, honest friend, you 
had better manifest the same by putting us at liberty with as 
little delay as possible,” said Middleton, who, like his companion, 
began to find the tardiness of his often-tried companion quite as 
extraordinary as it was disagreeable. 

“ I should greatly like to do the same ; especially in your 
behalf, Captain, who, being a soldier, might find not only plea- 
sure but profit in examining, more at your ease, into the 
circumventions and cunning of an Indian fight. As to our friend, 
here, it is of but little matter how much of this affair he exa- 
mines, or how little, seeing that a bee is not to be overcome in the 
same manner as an Indian.” 

“ Old man, this trifling with our misery is inconsiderate, to give 
it a name no harsher ” 

“ Ay, your gran’ther was of a hot and hurrying mind, and one 
must not expect that the young of the panther will crawl the 
’arth like the litter of a porcupine. Now keep you both silent, 
and what I say, shall have the appearance of being spoken con- 
cerning the movements that are going on in the bottom ; all of 
which will serve to put jealousy to sleep, and to shut the eyes 
of such as rarely close them on wickedness and cruelty. In the 
first place, then, you must know that I have reason to think 
yonder treacherous Teton has left an order to put us all to death, 
so soon as he thinks the deed may be done secretly, and without 
tumult.” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


403 


“ Great Heaven ! will you suffer us to be butchered liko 
unresisting sheep ?” 

“ Hist, Captain, Hist ; a hot temper is none of the best, when 
cunning is more needed than blows. Ah, the Pawnee is a noble 
boy ! it would do your heart good to see how he draws off from 
the river, in order to invite his enemies to cross ; and yet, accord- 
ing to my failing sight, they count two warriors to his one ! 
But as I was saying, little good comes of haste and thought- 
lessness. The facts are so plain that any child may see their 
wisdom. The savages are of many minds as to the manner of 
our treatment. Some fear us for our color, and would gladly 
let us go, and other some would show us the mercy that the 
doe receives from the hungry wolf. When opposition gets 
fairly into the councils of a tribe, it is rare that humanity is the 
gainer. Now see you these wrinkled and cruel-minded squaws 
— No, you cannot see them as you lie, but nevertheless they are 
here, ready and willing, like so many raging she-bears, to work 
their will upon us so soon as the proper time shall come.” 

“ Harkee, old gentleman trapper,” interrupted Paul, with a 
little bitterness in his manner ; “ do you tell us these matters for 
cur amusement, or for your own ? If for ours, you may keep 
your breath for the next race you run, as I am tickled nearly to 
suffocation, already, with my part of the fun.” 

“ Hist !” said the trapper, cutting with great dexterity and 
rapidity the thong which bound one of the arms of Paul to his 
body, and dropping his knife at the same time within reach of 
the liberated hand. “ Hist, boy, hist ! that was a lucky 
moment! The yell from the bottom drew the eyes of these 
blood-suckers in another quarter, and so far we are safe. Now 
make a proper use of your advantages ; but be careful that 
what you do is done without being seen.” 

“ Thank you for this small favor, old deliberation,” muttered 
the bee-liunter, “ though it comes like a snow in May, somewhat 
out of season.” 

“ Foolish boy !” reproachfully exclaimed the other, who had 
moved to a little distance from his friends, and appeared to bo 


404 


THE PRAIRIE. 


attentively regarding the movements of the hostile parties, “ will 
you never learn to know the wisdom of patience ? And you, too, 
Captain ; though a man myself that seldom ruffles his temper by 
vain feelings, I see that you are silent because you scorn to ask 
favors any longer from one you think too slow to grant them. No 
doubt ye are both young, and filled with the pride of your 
strength and manhood, and I dare say you thought it only need- 
ful to cut the thongs to leave you masters of the ground. But 
he that has seen much is apt to think much. Had I run like a 
bustling woman to have given you freedom, these hags of the 
Siouxes would have seen the same, and then where would you 
both have found yourselves ? Under the tomahawk and the knife, 
like helpless and outcrying children, though gifted with the size 
and beards of men. Ask our friend, the bee-hunter, in what 
condition he finds himself to struggle with a Teton boy, after so 
many hours of bondage ; much less with a dozen marciless and 
bloodthirsty squaws !” 

“Truly, old trapper,” returned Paul, stretching his limbs, 
which were by this time entirely released, and endeavoring to 
restore the suspended circulation,- “ you have some judgmatical 
notions in these matters. Now here am I, Paul Hover, a man 
who will give in to few at wrestle or race, nearly as helpless as 
the day I paid my first visit to the house of old Paul, who is 
dead and gone — the Lord forgive him any little blunders he 
may have made while he tarried in Kentucky ! Now there is 
my foot on the ground, so far as eyesight has any virtue, and 
yet it would take no great temptation to make me swear it 
didn’t touch the earth by six inches. I say, honest friend, since 
you have done so much, have the goodness to keep these dam- 
nable squaws, of whom you say so many interesting things, at a 
little distance, till I have got the blood of this arm in motion 
and am ready to receive them.” 

The trapper made a sign that he perfectly understood the 
case 5 and he walked towards the superannuated savage, who 
began to manifest an intention of commencing his assigned task, 
leaving the bee-hunter to recover the use of his limbs as well as 


THE PRAIRIE. 


405 


he could, and to put Middleton in a similar situation to defend 
himself. 

Mahtoree had not mistaken his man in selecting the one he 
did to execute his bloody purpose. He had chosen one of those 
ruthless savages, more or less of whom are to be found in every 
tribe, who had purchased a certain share of military reputation, 
by the exhibition of a hardihood that found its impulses in an 
innate love of cruelty. Contrary to the high and chivalrous 
sentiment which among the Indians of the prairies renders it a 
deed of even greater merit to bear off the trophy of victory from a 
fallen foe than to slay him, he had been remarkable for prefer- 
ring the pleasure of destroying life to the glory of striking the 
dead. While the more self-devoted and ambitious braves were 
intent on personal honor, he had always been seen, established 
behind some favorable cover, depriving the wounded of hope, by 
finishing that which a more gallant warrior had begun. In all 
the cruelties of the tribe he had ever been foremost ; and no 
Sioux was so uniformly found on the side of merciless counsels. 

He had awaited with an impatience which his long practised 
restraint could with difficulty subdue, for the moment to arrive 
when he might proceed to execute the wishes of the great 
chief, without whose approbation and powerful protection he 
would not have dared to undertake a step that had so many 
opposers in the nation. But events had been hastening to an 
issue between the hostile parties ; and the time had now arrived, 
greatly to his secret and malignant joy, when he was free to act 
his will. 

The trapper found him distributing knives to the ferocious 
hags, who received the presents, chanting a low monotonous 
song, that recalled the losses of their people in various conflicts 
with the whites, and which extolled the pleasures and glory of 
revenge. The appearance of such a group was enough of itself 
to have deterred one less accustomed to such sights than the 
old man, from trusting himself within the circle of their wild and 
repulsive rites. 

Each of the crones, as she received the weapon, commenced a 




40G 


THE PRAIRIE. 


slow and measured, but ungainly step, around the savage, until 
the whole were circling him in a sort of magic dance. The 
movements were timed, in some degree, by the words of their 
songs, as were their gestures by the ideas. When they spoke 
of their own losses, they tossed their long straight locks of grey 
into the air, or suffered them to fall in confusion upon their 
withered necks ; but as the sweetness of returning blow for blow 
was touched upon by any among them, it was answered by a 
common howl, as well as by gestures that were sufficiently 
expressive of the manner in which they were exciting themselves 
to the necessary state of fury. 

Into the very centre of this ring of seeming demons the trapper 
now stalked, with the same calmness and observation as he would 
have walked into a village church. No other change was made 
by his appearance than a renewal of the threatening gestures 
with, if possible, a still less equivocal display of their remorseless 
intentions. Making a sign for them to cease, the old man 
demanded — 

“ Why do the mothers of the Tetons sing with bitter tongues ? 
The Pawnee prisoners are not yet in their village ; their young 
men have not come back loaded with scalps !” 

He was answered by a general howl, and a few of the boldest 
of the furies even ventured to approach him, flourishing their 
knives within a dangerous proximity of his own steady eye- 
balls. 

“ It is a warrior you see, and no runner of the Long-knives, 
whose face grows pale at the sight of a tomahawk,” returned the 
trapper, without moving a muscle. “ Let the Sioux women 
think ; if one White-skin dies, a hundred spring up where he 
falls.” 

Still the hags made no other answer than by increasing their 
speed in the circle, and occasionally raising the threatening 
expressions of their chant into louder and more intelligible 
strains. Suddenly one of the oldest and the most ferocious of 
them all, broke out of the ring, and skirred away in the direction 
of her victims, like a rapacious bird that, having wheeled on 


THE PRAIRIE. 


407 


poised wings for the time necessary to insure its object, makes 
the final dart upon its prey. The others followed, a disorderly 
and screaming flock, fearful of being too late to reap their portion 
of the sanguinary pleasure. 

“ Mighty medicine of my people !” shouted the old man, in 
the Teton tongue ; “ lift your voice and speak, that the Sioux 
nation may hear.” 

Whether Asinus had acquired so much knowledge by his 
recent experience as to know the value of his sonorous properties, 
or the strange spectacle of a dozen hags flitting past him, filling 
the air with such sounds as were even grating to the ears of an 
ass, most moved his temper, it is certain that the animal did that 
which Obed was requested to do, and probably with far greater 
effect than if the naturalist had striven with his mightiest effort 
to be heard. It was the first time the strange beast had spoken, 
since his arrival in the encampment. Admonished by so terrible 
a warning, the hags scattered themselves like vultures frightened 
from their prey, still screaming, and but half-diverted from their 
purpose. 

In the meantime the sudden appearance, and the imminency 
of the danger, quickened the blood in the veins of Paul and 
Middleton, more than all their laborious frictions and physical 
expedients. The former had actually risen to his feet, and 
assumed an attitude which perhaps threatened more than the 
worthy bee-hunter was able to perform, and even the latter had 
mounted to his knees, and shown a disposition to do good service 
for his life. The unaccountable release of the captives from 
their bonds was attributed, by the hags, to the incantations of 
the medicine ; and the mistake was probably of as much service 
as the miraculous and timely interposition of Asinus in their favor. 

“ Now is the time to come out of our ambushment,” exclaimed 
the old man, hastening to join his friends, “and to make open 
and manful war. It would have been policy to have kept back 
the struggle until the Captain was in better condition to join, 
but as we have unmasked our battery, why, we must maintain 
the ground ■” 


408 


THE PRAIRIE. 


He was interrupted by feeling a gigantic hand on his shoulder. 
Turning, under a sort of confused impression that necromancy 
was actually abroad in the place, he found that he was in the 
hands of a sorcerer no less dangerous and powerful than Ishmael 
Bush. The file of the squatter’s well-armed sons, that was seen 
issuing from behind the still standing tent of Mahtoree, explained 
at once not only the manner in which their rear had been turned, 
while their attention had been so earnestly bestowed on matters 
in front, but the utter impossibility of resistance. ✓ 

Neither Ishmael nor his sons deemed it necessary to enter 
into prolix explanations. Middleton and Paul were bound again, 
with extraordinary silence and despatch, and this time not even 
the aged trapper was exempt from a similar fortune. The tent 
was struck, the females placed upon the horses, and the whole 
were on the way towards the squatter’s encampment, with a 
celerity that might well have served to keep alive the idea of 
magic. 

During this summary and brief disposition of things, the dis- 
appointed agent of Mahtoree and his callous associates were seen 
flying across the plain, in the direction of the retiring families ; 
and when Ishmael left the spot with his prisoners and his booty, 
the ground, which had so lately been alive with the bustle and 
life of an extensive Indian encampment, was as still and empty 
as any other spot in those extensive wastes. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


409 


CHAPTER XXX. 


Is this proceeding just and honorable ? 

SlIAKSPEARE. 


During the occurrence of these events on the upland plain, 
the warriors on the bottom had not been idle. We left the 
adverse bands watching one another on the opposite banks of 
the stream, each endeavoring to excite its enemy to some act of 
indiscretion, by the most reproachful taunts and revilings. But 
the Pawnee chief was not slow to discover that his crafty anta- 
gonist had no objection to waste tho time so idly, and, as they 
mutually proved, in expedients that were so entirely useless, 
lie changed his plans, accordingly, and withdrew from the bank, 
as has been already explained through the mouth of the trapper, 
in order to invite the more numerous host of the Siouxes to 
cross. The challenge was not accepted, and the Loups were 
compelled to frame some other method to attain their end. 

Instead of any longer throwing away the precious moments 
in fruitless endeavors to induce his foe to cross the stream, the 
young partisan of the Pawnees led his troops, at a swift gallop, 
along its margin, in quest of some favorable spot, where by a 
sudden push he might throw his own band without loss to the 
opposite shore. The instant ‘his object was discovered, each 
mounted Teton received a footman behind him, and Mahtoree 
was still enabled to concentrate his whole force against the effort. 
Perceiving that his design was anticipated, and unwilling to 
blow his horses by a race that would disqualify them for service, 
even after they had succeeded in outstripping the more heavily- 
burdened cattle of the Siouxes, Hard-Heart drew up, and came 
to a dead halt on the very margin of the water-course. 

1 ft 


410 


THE PllAIRIE. 


As the country was too open for any of the usual devices of 
savage warfare, and time was so pressing, the chivalrous Pawnee 
resolved to bring on the result by one of those acts of personal 
daring for which the Indian braves are so remarkable, and by 
which they often purchase their highest and dearest renown. 
The spot he had selected was favorable to such a project. The 
river, which throughout most of its course was deep and rapid, 
had expanded there to more than twice its customary width, 
and the rippling of its waters proved that it flowed over a 
shallow bottom. In the centre of the current there was an 
extensive and naked bed of sand but a little raised above the 
level of the stream, and of a color and consistency which war- 
ranted, to a practised eye, that it afforded a firm and safe 
foundation for the foot. To this spot the partisan now turned 
his wistful gaze, nor was he long in making his decision. First 
speaking to his warriors and apprising them of his intentions, 
he dashed into the current, and partly by swimming, and 
more by the use of his horse’s feet, lie reached the island in 
safety. 

The experience of Hard-Heart had not deceived him. When 
his snorting steed issued from the water, he found- himself on a 
tremendous but damp and compact bed of sand, that was admi- 
rably adapted to the exhibition of the finest powers of the 
animal. The horse seemed conscious of the advantage, and 
bore his v warlike rider with an elasticity of step and a loftiness 
of air that would have done no discredit to the highest trained 
and most generous charger. The blood of the chief himself 
quickened with the excitement of his situation. He sat the 
beast as if conscious that the eyes of two tribes were on his 
movements ; and as nothing could be more acceptable and 
grateful to his own band than this display of native grace and 
courage, so nothing could be more taunting and humiliating to 
their enemies. 

The sudden appearance of the Pawnee on the sands was 
announced among the Tetons by a general yell of savage anger. 
A rush was made to the shore, followed by a discharge of fifty 


THE PRAIRIE. 


411 


arrows and a few fusees, and on the part of several braves there 
was a plain manifestation of a desire to plunge into the water 
in order to punish the temerity of their insolent foe. But a 
call and a mandate from Mahtoree, checked the rising and 
nearly ungovernable temper of his band. So far from allowing 
a single foot to be wet, or a repetition of the fruitless efforts of 
his people to drive away their foe with missiles, the whole of 
the party was commanded to retire from the shore, while he 
himself communicated his intentions to one or two of his most 
favored followers. 

When the Pawnees observed the rush of their enemies, 
twenty warriors rode into the stream ; but so soon as they per- 
ceived that the Tetons had withdrawn, they fell back to a man, 
leaving the young chief to the support of his own often-tried 
skill and well-established courage. The instructions of Hard- 
Heart on quitting his band, had been worthy of the self-devotion 
and daring of his character. So long as single warriors came 
against him he was to be left to the keeping of the Wahcondah 
and his own arm ; but should the Siouxes attack him in num- 
bers, he was to be sustained man for man, even to the extent 
of his whole force. These generous orders were strictly obeyed ; 
and though so many hearts in the troop panted to share in the 
glory and danger of their partisan, not a warrior was found 
among them all, who did not know how to conceal his impa- 
tience under the usual mask of Indian self-restraint. They 
watched the issue with quick and jealous eyes, nor did a single 
exclamation of surprise escape them when they saw, as will soon 
be apparent, that the experiment of their chief was as likely to 
conduce to peace as to war. 

Mahtoree was not long in communicating his plans to his 
confidants, whom he as quickly dismissed to join their fellows 
in the rear. The Teton entered a short distance into the stream 
and halted. Here he raised his hands several times, with the 
palm outwards, and made several of those other signs which 
are construed into a pledge of amicable intentions among tho 
inhabitants of those regions. Then, as if to confirm the sin- 


412 


THE PRAIRIE. 


cerity of his faith, he cast his fusee to the shore and entered 
deeper into the water, where he again came to a stand in order 
to see in what manner the Pawnee would receive his pledge of 
peace. 

The crafty Sioux had not made his calculations on the noble 
and honest nature of his more youthful rival in vain. Hard- 
Heart had continued galloping across the sands during the dis- 
charge oL^fiissiles and the appearance of a general onset, with 
th&f&tgme proud and confident mien as that with which ho had 
first braved the danger. When he saw the well known person 
of the Teton partisan enter the river, he waved his hand in 
triumph, and flourishing his lance he raised the thrilling war- 
cry of his people as a challenge for him to come on. But when 
he saw the signs of a truce, though deeply practised in the 
treachery of savage combats, he disdained to show a less manly 
reliance on himself than that which his enemy had seen fit to 
exhibit. Riding to the furthest extremity of the sands he cast 
his own fusee from him, and returned to the point whence he 
had started. 

The two chiefs were now armed alike. Each had his spear, 
his bow, his quiver, his little battle-axe, and his knife ; and each 
had also a shield of hides, which might serve as a means of 
defence against a surprise from any of these weapons. The 
Sioux no longer hesitated, but advanced deeper into the stream, 
and soon landed on a point of the island which his courteous 
adversary had left free for that purpose. Had one been there 
to watch the countenance of Mahtoree as he crossed the water 
that separated him from the most formidable and the most 
hated of all his rivals, he might have fancied that he could 
trace the gleamings of a secret joy breaking through the cloud 
which deep cunning and heartless treachery had drawn before 
his swarthy visage ; and yet there would have been moments 
when he might have believed that the flashings of the Teton’s 
eye and the expansion of his nostrils had their origin in a nobler 
sentiment and one more worthy of an Indian chief. 

The Pawnee awaited the time of his enemy with calmnesg 


THE PRAIRIE. 


413 


and dignity.. The Teton made a short turn or two to curb the 
impatience of his steed and to recover his seat after the effort 
of crossing, and then he rode into the centre of the place and 
invited the other by a courteous gesture, to approach. Hard- 
Heart drew nigh until he found himself at a distance equally 
suited to advance or to retreat, and, in his turn, he came to a 
stand, keeping his glowing eye riveted on that of his enemy. 
A long and grave pause succeeded this movement, during which 
these two distinguished braves, who were now for the first time 
confronted with arms in their hands, sat regarding each other 
like warriors who knew how to value the merits of a gallant foe. 
however hated. But the mien of Mahtoree was far less stern 
and warlike than that of the partisan of the Loups. Throwing 
his shield over his shoulder, as if to invite the confidence of 
the other, he made a gesture of salutation and was the first to 
speak. 

“ Let the Pawnees go upon the hills,” he said, “ and look 
from the morning to the evening sun, from the country of snows 
to the land of many flowers, and they will see that the earth is 
very large. Why cannot the Red-men find room on it for all 
their villages ?” 

“ Has the Teton ever known a warrior of the Loups come 
to his towns to beg a place for his lodge ?” returned the young 
brave, with a look in which pride and contempt were not 
attempted to be concealed : “ when the Pawnees hunt, do they 
send runners to ask Mahtoree if there are no Siouxes on the 
prairies ?” 

“ When there is hunger in the lodge of a warrior, he looks 
for the buffalo, which is given him for food,” the Teton conti- 
nued, struggling to keep down the ire excited by the other’s 
scorn. “ The Wahcondah has made more of them than he has 
made Indians. He has not said, This buffalo shall be for a 
Pawnee, and that for a Dahcotah ; this beaver for a Konza, and 
that for an Omahaw. No ; he said, There are enough. I 
love my red children, and I have given them great riches. The 
swiftest horse shall not go from the village of the Tetons to the 


414 


THE PRAIRIE. 


village of the Loups in many suns. It is far from the towns of 
the Pawnees to the river of the Osages. There is room for 
all that I love. Why then should a Red-man strike his bro- 
ther?” 

Hard-Heart dropped one end of his lance to the earth, and 
having also cast his shield across his shoulder, he sat leaning 
lightly on the weapon, as he answered with a smile of no 
doubtful expression— 

“ Are the Tetons weary of the hunts and of the war-path ? 
Do they wish to cook the venison, and not to kill it ? Do they 
intend to let the hair cover their heads, that their enemies 
shall not know where to find th§ir scalps ? Go ; a Pawnee 
warrior will never come among such Sioux squaws for a wife !” 

A frightful gleam of ferocity broke out of the restraint of the 
Dahcotah’s countenance, as he listened to this biting insult ; but 
he was quick in subduing the tell-tale feeling, in an expression 
much better suited to his present purpose. 

“This is the way a young chief should talk of war,” he 
answered with singular composure ; “ but Mahtoree has seen 
the misery of more winters than his brother. When the 
nights have been long, and darkness has been in his lodge, 
•while the young men slept, he has thought of the hardships of 
his people. He has said to himself, Teton, count the scalps in 
your smoke. They are all red but two ! Does the wolf 
destroy the wolf, or the rattler strike his brother ? You know 
they do not ; therefore, Teton, are you wrong to go on a path 
that leads to the village of a Red-skin, with a tomahawk in 
your hand.” 

“ The Sioux would rob the warrior of his fame ! He would 
say to his young men, Go, dig roots in the prairies, and find 
holes to bury your tomahawks in ; you are no longer braves !” 

“If the tongue of Mahtoree ever says thus,” returned the 
crafty chief, with an appearance of strong indignation, “let his 
women cut it out, and burn i* with the offals of the buffalo. 
No,” he added, advancing a few feet nigher to the immovable 
Hard-Heart, as if in the sincerity of confidence ; “ the Red-man 


THE PRAIRIE. 


415 


can never want an enemy : they are plentier than the leaves on 
the trees, the birds in the heavens, or the buffaloes on the 
prairies. Let my brother open his eyes wide : does he no- 
where see an enemy he would strike ?” 

“ How long is it since the Teton counted the scalps of his 
warriors, that were drying in the smoke of a Pawnee lodge ? 
The hand that took them is here, and ready to make eighteen, 
twenty.” 

“ Now, let not the mind of my brother go on a crooked path. 
If a Red-skin strikes a Red-skin for ever, who will be masters of 
the prairies, when no warriors are left to say, ‘ They are mine V 
Hear the voices of the old men. They tell us that in their 
days many Indians have come out of the woods under the 
rising sun, and that they have filled the prairies with their 
complaints of the robberies of the Long-knives. Where a 
Pale-face comes, a Red-man cannot stay. The land is too 
small. They are always hungry. See, they are here already !” 

As the Teton spoke, he pointed towards the tents of Ishmael, 
which were in plain sight, and then he paused, to await the 
effect of his words on the mind of his ingenuous foe. Hard- 
Heart listened like one in whom a train of novel ideas had been 
excited by the reasoning of the other. He mused for a minute 
before he demanded — 

“ What do the wise chiefs of the Sioux say must be done ?” 

“ They think that the moccasin of every Pale-face should be 
followed, like the track of the bear. That the Long-knife, who 
comes upon the prairie, should never go back. That the path 
shall be open to those who come, and shut to those who go. 
Yonder are many. They have horses and guns. They are 
rich, but we are poor. Will the Pawnees meet the Tetons in 
council ? and when the sun is gone behind the Rocky Moun- 
tains, they will say, This is for a Loup and this for a Sioux.” 

“ Teton — no ! Hard-Heart has never struck the stranger. 
They come into his lodge and eat, and they go out in safety. 
A mighty chief is their friend ! When my people call the 
young men to go on the war-path, the moccasin of Hard-Heart 


416 


THE PRAIRIE. 


is the last. But his village is no sooner hid by the trees, than 
it is the first. No, Teton ; his arm will never be lifted against 
the stranger.” 

“ Fool ; die, with empty hands !” Mahtoree exclaimed, 
setting an arrow to his bow, and sending it, with a sudden and 
deadly aim, full at the naked bosom of his generous and con- 
fiding enemy. 

The action of the treacherous Teton was too quick, and too 
well matured, to admit of any of the ordinary means of defence 
on the part of the Pawnee. His shield was hanging at his 
shoulder, and even the arrow had been suffered to fall from its 
place, and lay in the hollow of the hand which grasped his bow. 
But the quick eye of the brave had time to see the movement, 
and his ready thoughts did not desert him. Pulling hard and 
with a jerk upon the rein, his steed reared his forward legs into 
the air, and, as the rider bent his body low, the horse served for 
a shield against the danger. So true, however, was the aim, 
and so powerful the force by which it was sent, that the arrow 
entered the neck of the animal, and broke the skin on the 
opposite side. 

Quicker than thought Hard-Heart sent back an answering' 
arrow. The shield of the Teton was transfixed, but his person 
was untouched. For a few moments the twang of the bow and 
the glancing of arrows were incessant, notwithstanding the 
combatants were compelled to give so large a portion of their 
care to the means of defence. The quivers were soon exhausted ; 
and though blood had been drawn, it was not in sufficient 
quantities to impair the energy of the combat. 

A series of masterly and rapid evolutions with the horses now 
commenced. The wheelings, the charges, the advances, and 
the circuitous retreats, were like the flights of circling swallows. 
Blows were struck with the lance, the sand was scattered in the 
air, and the shocks often seemed to be unavoidably fatal ; but 
still each party kept his seat, and still each rein was managed 
with a steady hand. At length the Teton was driven to the 
necessity of throwing himself from his horse, to escape a thrust 


THE PRAIRIE. 


417 


that would otherwise have proved fatal. The Pawnee passed 
his lance through the beast, uttering a shout of triumph as he 
galloped by. Turning in his tracks, he was about to push the 
advantage, when his own mettled steed staggered and fell, under 
a burden that he could no longer sustain. Mahtoree answered 
his premature cry of victory, and rushed upon the entangled 
youth with knife and tomahawk. The utmost agility of Hard- 
Heart had not sufficed to extricate himself in season from the 
fallen beast. He saw that his case was desperate. Feeling for 
his knife, he took the blade between a finger and thumb, and 
cast it with admirable coolness at his advancing foe. The keen 
weapon whirled a few times in the air, and its point meeting 
the naked breast of the impetuous Sioux, the blade was buried 
to the buck-horn haft. 

Mahtoree laid his hand on the weapon, and seemed to hesi- 
tate whether to withdraw it or not. For a moment his counte- 
nance darkened with the most inextinguishable hatred and 
ferocity, and then, as if inwardly admonished how little time he 
had to lose, he staggered to the edge of the sands, and halted 
with his feet in the water. The cunning and duplicity which 
had so long obscured the brighter and nobler traits of his 
character, were lost in the never dying sentiment of pride, 
which he had imbibed in youth. 

“ Boy of the Loups !” he said, with a smile of grim satisfaction, 
“ the scalp of a mighty Dahcotah shall never dry in Pawnee 
smoke !” 

Drawing the knife from the wound, he hurled it towards the 
enemy in disdain. Then shaking his arm at his successful foe, 
his swarthy countenance appearing to struggle with volumes of 
scorn and hatred, that he could not utter with the tongue, he 
cast himself headlong into one of the most rapid veins of the 
current, his hand still waving in triumph above the fluid, even 
after his body had sunk into the tide for ever. Hard-Heart 
was by this time free. The silence, which had hitherto reigned 
in the bands, was suddenly broken by general and tumultuous 
shouts. Fifty of the adverse warriors were already in the river, 

18 * 


418 


THE PR A IRIE. 


hastening to destroy or to defend the conqueror, and the 
combat was rather on the eve of its commencement than near 
its termination. But to all these signs of danger and need, the 
young victor was insensible. He sprang for the knife, and 
bounded with the foot of an antelope along the sands, looking 
for the receding fluid which concealed his prize. A dark, 
bloody spot indicated the place, and, armed with the knife, he 
plunged into the stream, resolute to die in the flood, or to 
return with his trophy. 

In the meantime, the sands became a scene of bloodshed and 
violence. Better mounted and perhaps more ardent, the 
Pawnees had, however, reached the spot in sufficient numbers 
to force their enemies to retire. The victors pushed their 
success to the opposite shore, and gained the solid ground in the 
mttee of the fight. Here they were met by all the unmounted 
Tetons, and, in their turn, they were forced to give way. 

The combat now became more characteristic and circumspect. 
As the hot impulses which had driven both parties to mingle 
in so deadly a struggle, began to cool, the chiefs were enabled 
to exercise their influence, and to temper the assaults with 
prudence. In consequence of the admonitions of their leaders, 
the Siouxes sought such covers as the grass afforded, or here 
and there some bush or slight inequality of the ground, and the 
charges of the Pawnee warriors necessarily became more wary, 
and of course less fatal. 

In this manner the contest continued with a varied success, 
and without much loss. The Siouxes had succeeded in forcing 
themselves into a thick growth of rank grass, where the horses 
of their enemies could not enter, or where, when entered, they 
were worse than useless. It became necessary to dislodge the 
Tetons from this cover, or the object of the combat must be 
abandoned. Several desperate efforts had been repulsed, and the 
disheartened Pawnees were beginning to think of a retreat, when 
the well known war-cry of Hard-Heart was heard at hand, and at 
the next instant the chief appeared in their centre, flourishing the 
scalp of the Great Sioux, as a banner that would lead to victory. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


419 


He was greeted by a shout of delight, and followed into the 
cover with an impetuosity that, for the moment, drove all before 
it. But the bloody trophy in the hand of the partisan served 
as an incentive to the attacked, as well as to the assailants. 
Mahtoree had left many a daring brave behind him in his band, 
and the orator who in the debates of that day had manifested 
such pacific thoughts, now exhibited the most generous self- 
devotion, in order to wrest the memorial of a man he had never 
loved, from the hands of the avowed enemies of his people. 

The result was in favor of numbers. After a severe struggle, 
in which the finest displays of personal intrepidity were exhibited 
by all the chiefs, the Pawnees were compelled to retire upon the 
open bottom, closely pressed by the Siouxes, who failed not to 
seize each foot of ground ceded by their enemies. Had the 
Tetons stayed their efforts on the margin of the grass, it is 
probable that the honor of the day would have been theirs, 
notwithstanding the irretrievable loss they had sustained in the 
death of Mahtoree. But the more reckless braves of the band 
were guilty of an indiscretion that entirely changed the fortunes 
of the fight, and suddenly stripped them of their hard-earned 
advantages. 

A Pawnee chief had sunk under the numerous wounds he had 
received, and he fell, a target for a dozen arrows, in the very 
last group of his retiring party. Regardless alike of inflicting 
further injury on their foes, and of the temerity of the act, the 
Sioux braves bounded forward with a whoop, each man burning 
with the wish to reap the high renown of striking the body of 
the dead. They were met by Hard-Heart and a chosen knot 
of warriors, all of whom were just as stoutly bent on saving the 
honor of their nation from so foul a stain. The struggle was 
hand to hand, and blood began to flow more freely. As the 
Pawnees retired with the body, the Siouxes pressed upon their 
footsteps, and at length the whole of the latter broke out of the 
cover with a common yell, and threatened to bear down all 
opposition by sheer physical superiority. 

The fate of Hard-Heart and his companions, all of whom 


420 


THE PRAIRIE. 


would have died rather than relinquish their object, would have 
been quickly sealed, but for a powerful and unlooked-for. inter- 
position in their favor. A shout was heard from a little brake 
on the left, and a volley from the fatal western rifle immediately 
succeeded. Some five or six Siouxes leaped forward in the death 
agony, and every arm among them was as suddenly suspended, 
as if the lightning had flashed from the clouds to aid the cause 
of the Loups. Then came Ishmael and his stout sons in open 
view, bearing down upon their late treacherous allies, with looks 
and voices that proclaimed the character of the succor. 

The shock was too much for the fortitude of the Tetons. 
Several of their bravest chiefs had already fallen, and those that 
remained were instantly abandoned by the whole of the inferior 
herd. A few of the most desperate braves still lingered nigh ^ 
the fatal symbol of their honor, and there nobly met their deaths, 
under the blows of the re-encouraged Pawnees. A second 
discharge from the rifles of the squatter and his party completed 
the victory. 

The Siouxes were now to be seen flying to more distant covers, 
with the same eagerness and desperation as^ a few moments 
before, they had been plunging into the fight. The triumphant 
Pawnees bounded forward in chase, like so many higli-blooded 
and well-trained hounds. On every side were heard the cries 
of victory, or the yell of revenge. A few of the fugitives 
endeavored to bear away the bodies of their fallen warriors, but 
the hot pursuit quickly compelled them to abandon the slain, 
in order to preserve the living. Among all the struggles which 
were made on that occasion, to guard the honor of the Siouxes 
from the stain which their peculiar opinions attached to the 
possession of the scalp of a fallen brave, but one solitary instance 
of success occurred. 

The opposition of a particular chief to the hostile proceedings 
in the councils of that morning has been already seen. But, 
after having raised his voice in vain, in support of peace, his arm 
was not backward in doing its duty in the war. Ilis prowess 
has been mentioned ; and it was chiefly by his courage and 


THE PRAIRIE. 


421 


example, that the Tetons sustained themselves in the heroic 
manner they did, when the death of Mahtoree was known. 
This warrior, who, in the figurative language of his people, was 
called “ the Swooping Eagle,” had been the last to abandon the 
hopes of victory. When he found that the support of the 
dreaded rifle had robbed his band of the hard-earned advantages, 
he sullenly retired amid a shower of missiles, to the secret spot 
where he had hid his horse, in the mazes of the highest grass. 
Here he found a new and an entirely unexpected competitor, 
ready to dispute with him for the possession of the beast. It 
was Bohrecheena, the aged friend of Mahtoree ; he whose voice 
had been given in opposition to his own wiser opinions, transfixed 
with an arrow, and evidently suffering under the pangs of 
approaching death. 

“ I have been on my last war-path,” said the grim old warrior, 
when he found that the real owner of the animal had come to 
claim his property; “shall a Pawnee carry the white hairs of a 
Sioux into his village, to be a scorn to his women and children ?” 

The other grasped his hand, answering to the appeal with a 
stern look of inflexible resolution. With this silent pledge, he 
assisted the wounded man to mount. So soon as he had led 
the horse to the margin of the cover, he threw himself also on 
its back, and securing his companion to his belt, he issued on the 
open plain, trusting entirely to the well known speed of the 
beast for their mutual safety. The Pawnees were not long in 
catching a view of these new objects, and several turned iheir 
steeds to pursue. The race continued for a mile, without a 
murmur from the sufferer, though, in addition to the agony of 
his body, he had the pain of seeing his enemies approach at 
every leap of their horses. 

“ Stop,” he said, raising a feeble arm to check the speed of 
his companion ; “ the Eagle of my tribe must spread his wings 
wider. Let him carry the white hairs of an old warrior into the 
burnt- wood village !” 

Few words were necessary between men who were governed 
by the same feelings of glory, and who were so well trained in 


422 


the prairi e. 


the principles of their romantic honor. The Swooping Eagle 
threw himself from the back of the horse, and assisted the other 
to alight. The old man raised his tottering frame to its knees, 
and first casting a glance upwards at the countenance of his 
countryman, as if to bid him adieu, he stretched out his neck 
to the blow he himself invited. A few strokes of the tomahawk, 
with a circling gash of the knife, sufficed to sever the head from 
the less valued trunk. The Teton mounted again, just in season 
to escape a flight of arrows which came from his eager and 
disappointed pursuers. Flourishing the grim and bloody visage, 
he darted away from the spot with a shout of triumph, and was 
seen scouring the plains, as if he were actually borne along on 
the wings of the powerful bird from whose qualities he had 
received his flattering name. The Swooping Eagle reached his 
village in safety. He was one of the few Siouxes who escaped 
from the massacre of that fatal day ; and for a long time he 
alone of the saved was able to lift his voice, in the councils of 
his nation, with undiminished confidence. 

The knife and the lance cut short the retreat of the larger 
portion of the vanquished. Even the retiring party of the 
women and children were scattered by the conquerors ; and the 
sun had long sunk behind the rolling outline of the western 
horizon, before the fell business of that disastrous defeat was 
entirely ended. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


423 


CHAPTER XXXI. 


* Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew 1” 

Shakspkare. 

The day dawned, the following morning, on a more tranquil 
scene. The work of blood had entirely ceased ; and as the sun 
arose, its light was shed on a broad expanse of quiet and solitude. 
The tents of Ishmael were still standing where they had been 
last seen, but not another vestige of human existence could be 
traced in any other part of the waste. Here and there little 
flocks of ravenous birds were sailing and screaming above those 
spots where some heavy-footed Teton had met his death, but 
every other sign of the recent combat had passed away. The 
river was to be traced far through the endless meadows, by its 
serpentine and smoking bed; and the little silvery clouds of 
vapor, which hung above the pools and springs, were beginning 
to melt in air, as they felt the quickening warmth, which, pour- 
ing from the glowing sky, shed its bland and subtle influence 
on every object of the vast and unshadowed region. The prairie 
was like the heavens after the passage of the gust, soft, calm, 
and soothing. 

It was in the midst of such a scene that the family of the 
squatter assembled to make their final decision, concerning the 
several individuals who had been thrown into their power by 
the fluctuating chances of the incidents related. Every being pos- 
sessing life and liberty had been afoot, since the first streak of 
grey had lighted the east ; and even the youngest of the erratic 
brood seemed conscious that the moment had arrived, when 
circumstances were about to occur that might leave a lasting 
impression on the wild fortunes of their semi-barbarous condition. 

Ishmael moved through his little encampment, with the serious- 


424 


THE PRAIRIE. 


ness of one who had been unexpectedly charged with matters 
of a gravity exceeding any of the ordinary occurrences of his 
irregular existence. Ilis sons, however, who had so often found 
occasions to prove the inexorable severity of their father’s cha- 
racter, saw, in his sullen mien and cold eye, rather a determina- 
tion to adhere to his resolutions, which usually were as 
obstinately enforced as they were harshly conceived, than any 
evidences of wavering or doubt. Even Esther was sensibly 
affected by the important matters that pressed so heavily on the 
interests of her family. While she neglected none of those 
domestic offices which would probably have proceeded under any 
conceivable circumstances, just as the world turns round with 
earthquakes rending its crust and volcanoes consuming its vitals, 
yet her voice was pitched to a lower and more foreboding key 
than common, and the still frequent chidings of her children 
were tempered by something like the milder dignity of parental 
authority. 

Abiram, as usual, seemed the one most given to solicitude 
and doubt. There were certain misgivings, in the frequent 
glances that he turned on the unyielding countenance of 
Ishmael, which might have betrayed how little of their former 
confidence and good understanding existed between them. His 
looks appeared to be vacillating between hope and fear. At 
times, his countenance lighted with the gleamings of a sordid 
joy, as he bent his look on the tent which contained his 
recovered prisoner, and then, again, the impression seemed 
unaccountably chased away by the shadows of intense appre- 
hension. When under the influence of the latter feeling, his 
eye never failed to seek the visage of his dull and impenetrable 
kinsman. But there he rather found reason for alarm than 
grounds of encouragement, for the whole character of the 
squatter’s countenance expressed the fearful truth, that he had 
redeemed his dull faculties from the influence of the kidnapper, 
and that his thoughts were now brooding only on the achieve- 
ment of his own stubborn intentions. 

It was in this state of things that the sons of Ishmael, in 


THE PRAIRIE. 


425 


obedience to an order from their father, conducted the several 
subjects of his contemplated decisions from their places of con- 
finement into the open air. No one was exempted from this 
arrangement. Middleton and Inez, Paul and Ellen, Obed and 
the trapper, were all brought forth and placed in situations that 
were deemed suitable to receive the sentence of their arbitrary- 
judge. The younger children gathered around the spot in 
momentary but engrossing curiosity, and even Esther quitted 
her culinary labors and drew nigh to listen. 

Hard-Heart alone, of all his band, was present to witness the 
novel and far from unimposing spectacle. He stood leaning 
gravely on his lance, while the smoking steed that grazed nigh 
showed that he had ridden far and hard to be a spectator on 
the occasion. 

Ishmael had received his new ally with a coldness that showed 
his entire insensibility to that delicacy which had induced the 
young chief to come alone, in order that the presence of his 
warriors might not create uneasiness or distrust. He neither 
courted their assistance nor dreaded their enmity, and he now 
proceeded to the business of the hour with as much composure 
as if the species of patriarchal power he wielded was universally 
recognised. 

There is something elevated in the possession of authority, 
however it may be abused. The mind is apt to make some 
efforts to prove the fitness between its qualities and the condi- 
tion of its owner, though it may often fail, and render that ridi- 
culous which was only hated before. But the effect on Ishmael 
Bush was not so disheartening. Grave in exterior, saturnine by 
temperament, formidable by his physical means, and dangerous 
from his lawless obstinacy, his self-constituted tribunal excited a 
degree of awe to which even the intelligent Middleton could not 
bring himself to be entirely insensible. Little time, however, 
was given to arrange his thoughts; for the squatter, though 
unaccustomed to haste, having previously made up his mind, 
was not disposed. to waste the moments in delay. When he 
saw that all were in their places he cast a dull look over his 


426 


THE PRAIRIE. 


prisoners, and addressed himself to the Captain as the principal 
man among the imaginary delinquents. 

“ I am called upon this day to fill the office which in the 
settlements you give unto judges, who are set apart to decide 
on matters that arise between man and man. I have but little 
knowledge of the ways of the courts, though there is a rule 
that is known unto all, and which teaches that an ‘ eye must be 
returned for an eye,’ and ‘a tooth for a tooth.’ I am no 
troubler of county-houses, and least of all do I like living on a 
plantation that the sheriff has surveyed ; yet there is a reason 
in such a law that makes it a safe rule to journey by, and 
therefore it ar’ a solemn fact that this day shall I abide by 
it, and give unto all and each that which is his due and no 
more.” 

When Ishmael had delivered his mind thus far, he paused 
and looked about him as if he would trace the effects in the 
countenances of his hearers. When his eye met that of Middle- 
ton he was answered by the latter — 

“ If the evil-doer is to be punished, and he that has offended 
none to be left to go at large, you must change. situations with 
me, and become a prisoner instead of a judge.” 

“ You mean to say that I have done you wrong in taking the 
lady from her father’s house, and leading her so far against her 
will into these wild districts,” returned the unmoved squatter, 
who manifested as little resentment as he betrayed compunction 
at the charge. “ I shall not put the lie on the back of an evil 
deed and deny your words. Since things have come to this 
pass between us I have found time to think the matter over at 
my leisure, and though none of your swift thinkers, who can 
see, or who pretend to see, into the nature of all things by a 
turn of the eye, yet am I a man open to reason, and give me 
my time, one who is not given to deny the truth. Therefore 
have I mainly concluded that it was a mistake to take a 
child from its parent, and the lady shall be returned whence 
she has been brought, as tenderly and as safely as man can 
do it.” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


427 


u Ay, ay,” added Esther, “ the man is right. Poverty and 
labor bore hard upon him, especially as county-officers were 
getting troublesome, and in a weak moment he did the wicked 
act ; but he has listened to my words, and his mind has got 
round again into its honest corner. An awful and a dangerous 
thing it is to be bringing the daughters of other people into a 
peaceable and well governed family !” 

“ And who will thank you for the same after what has been 
already done ?” muttered Abiram, with a grin of disappointed 
cupidity, in which malignity and terror were disgustingly united ; 
“ when the devil has once made out his account, you may look 
for your receipt in full only at his hands.” 

“ Peace !” said Ishmael, stretching his heavy hand towards 
his kinsman in a manner that instantly silenced the speaker. 
“ Your voice is like a raven’s in my ears. If you had never 
spoken I should have been spared this shame.” 

“ Since then you are beginning to lose sight of your errors 
and to see the truth,” said Middleton, “ do not things by halves, 
but by the generosity of your conduct purchase friends who 
may be of use in warding off any future danger from the 
law ” 

“ Young man,” interrupted the squatter, with a dark frown, 
“ you, too, have said enough. If fear of the law had come over 
me, you would not be here to witness the manner in which 
Ishmael Bush deals out justice.” 

“ Smother not your good intentions ; and remember if you 
contemplate violence to any among us, that the arm of that law 
you affect to despise, reaches far, and that though its movements 
are sometimes slow, they are not the less certain !” 

“ Yes, there is too much truth in his words, squatter,” said 
the trapper, whose attentive ears rarely suffered a syllable to be 
utterly unheeded in his presence. “ A busy and a troublesome 
arm it often proves to be here in this land of America ; where, 
as they say, man is left greatly to the following of his own 
wishes, compared to other countries ; and happier, ay, and more 
manly and more honest too, is he for the privilege S Why do 


428 


T II E PRAIRIE. 


you know, my men, that there are regions where the law is so 
busy as to nay, In this fashion shall you live, in that fashion 
shall you die, and in such another fashion shall you take leave 
of the world, to be sent before the judgment-seat of the Lord ! 
A wicked and a troublesome meddling is that, with the business 
of One who has not made his creatures to be herded like oxen, 
and driven from field to field as their stupid and selfish keepers 
may judge of their need and wants. A miserable land must 
that be where they fetter the mind as well as the body, and 
where the creatures of God, being born children, are kept so by 
the wicked inventions of men who would take upon themselves 
the office of the great Governor of all ?” 

During the delivery of this pertinent opinion, Ishmael was 
content to be silent, though the look with which he regarded 
the speaker manifested any other feeling than that of amity. 
When the old man had done, he turned to Middleton, and con- 
tinued the subject which the other had interrupted. 

“ As to ourselves, young Captain, there has been wrong on 
both sides. If I have borne hard upon your feelings in taking 
away your wife with an honest intention of giving her back to you 
when the plans of that devil incarnate were answered, so have 
you broken into my encampment, aiding and abetting, as they 
have called many an honester bargain, in destroying my property.” 

“ But what I did was to liberate ” 

“ The matter is settled between us,” interrupted Ishmael, with 
the air of one who, having made up his own opinion on the 
merits of the question, cared very little for those of other people ; 
“ you and your wife are free to go and come when and how 
you please. Abner, set the Captain at liberty ; and now, if you 
will tarry until I am ready to draw nigher to the settlements, 
you shall both have the benefit of carriage ; if not, never say 
that you did not get a friendly offer ” 

“ Now, may the strong oppress me, and my sins be visited 
harshly on my own head, if I forget your honesty, however slow 
it has been in showing itself,” cried Middleton, hastening to the 
side of the weeping Inez, the instant he was released ; “ and, 


THE PRAIRIE. 


429 


friend, I pledge you the honor of a soldier, that your own part 
of this transaction shall be forgotten, whatever I may deem fit 
to have done, when I reach a place where the arm of govern- 
ment can make itself felt.” 

The dull smile with which the squatter answered to this 
assurance, proved how little he valued the pledge that the 
youth, in the first revulsion of his feelings, was so free to make. 

“ Neither fear nor favor, but what I call justice, has brought 
me to this judgment,” he said : “ do you that which may seem 
right in your eyes, and believe that the world is wide enough to 
hold us both, without our crossing each other’s path again ! If 
you ar’ content, well ; if you ar’ not content, seek to ease your 
feelings in your own fashion. I shall not ask to be let up, when 
you once put me fairly down. And now, Doctor, have I come 
to your leaf in my accounts. It is time to foot up the small 
reckoning that has been running on for some time atwixt us. 
With you, I entered into open and manly faith ; in what 
manner have you kept it ?” 

The singular felicity with which Ishmael had contrived to 
shift the responsibility of all that had passed from his own 
shoulders to those of his prisoners, backed as it was by circum- 
stances that hardly admitted of a very* philosophical examina- 
tion of any mooted point in ethics, was sufficiently embarrassing 
to the several individuals, who were so unexpectedly required to 
answer for a conduct which, in their simplicity, they had deemed 
so meritorious. The life of Obed had been so purely theoretic, 
that his amazement was not the least embarrassing at a state of 
things, which might not have proved so very remarkable had he 
been a little more practised in the ways of the world. The 
worthy naturalist was not the first by many, who found himself, 
at the precise moment when he was expecting praise, suddenly 
arraigned, to answer for the very conduct on which he rested all 
his claims to commendation. Though not a little scandalized 
at the unexpected turn of the transaction, he was fain to make 
the best of circumstances, and to bring forth such matter in 
justification as first presented itself to his disordered faculties. 


430 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ That there did exist a certain compactum, or agreement, 
between Obed Batt, M.D., and Ishmael Bush, viator, or erratic 
husbandman,” he said, endeavoring to avoid all offence in the 
use of terms, “ I am not disposed to deny. I will admit that it 
was therein conditioned, or stipulated, that a certain journey 
should be performed conjointly, or in company, until so many 
days had been numbered. But as the said time has fully 
expired, I presume it fair to infer that the bargain may now be 
said to be obsolete.” 

“ Ishmael !” interrupted the impatient Esther, “ make no 
words with a man who can break your bones as easily as set 
them, and let the poisoning devil go ! He’s a cheat, from box 
to phial. Give him half the prairie, and take the other half 
yourself. He an acclimator ! I will engage to get the brats 
acclimated to a fever-and-ague bottom in a week, and not a 
word shall be uttered harder to pronounce than the bark of a 
cherry-tree, with perhaps a drop or two of western comfort. 
One thing ar’ a fact, Ishmael ; I like no fellow-travellers who can 
give a heavy feel to an honest woman’s tongue, I — and that 
without caring whether her household is in order or out of 
order.” 

The air of settled gloom which had taken possession of the 
squatter’s countenance, lighted for an instant with a look of dull 
drollery, as he answered — 

“Different people might judge differently, Esther, of the 
virtue of the man’s art. But sin’ it is your wish to let him 
depart, I will not plough the prairie to make the walking rough. 
Friend, you are at liberty to go into the settlements, and there 
I would advise you to tarry, as men like me who make but few 
contracts, do not relish the custom of breaking them so easily.” 

“ And now, Ishmael,” resumed his conquering wife, “ in 
order to keep a quiet family and to smother all heart-burnings 
between us, show yonder Red-skin and his daughter,” pointing 
to the aged Le Balafre and the widowed Tachechana, “ the way 
to their village, and let us say to them — God bless you, and 
farewell, in the same breath !” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


431 


“ They are the captives of the Pawnee, according to the rules 
of Indian warfare, and I cannot meddle with his rights.” 

“ Beware the devil, my man ! He’s a cheat and a tempter, 
and none can say they ar’ safe with his awful delusions before 
their eyes ! Take the advice of one who has the honor of your 
name at heart, and send the tawny Jezebel away.” 

The squatter laid his broad hand on her shoulder, and look- 
ing her steadily in the eye, he answered in tones that were both 
stern and solemn — 

“ Woman, we have that before us which calls our thoughts 
to other matters than the follies you mean. Remember what 
is to come, and put your silly jealousy to sleep.” 

“ It is true, it is true,” murmured his wife, moving back 
among her daughters ; “ God forgive me that I should forget 
it 1” 

“ And now, young man ; you who have so often come into 
my clearing under the pretence of lining the bee into his hole,” 
resumed Ishmael, after a momentary pause, as if to recover the 
equilibrium of his mind, “ with you there is a heavier account 
to settle. Not satisfied with rummaging my camp, you have 
stolen a girl who is akin to my wife, and whom I had calculated 
to make one day a daughter of my own.” 

A stronger sensation was produced by this than by any of 
the preceding interrogations. All the young men bent their 
curious eyes on Paul and Ellen, the former of whom seemed in 
no small mental confusion, while the latter bent her face on her 
bosom in shame. 

“Harkee, friend Ishmael Bush,” returned the bee-hunter, 
who found that he was expected to answer to the charge of 
burglary as well as to that of abduction ; “ that I did not give 
the most civil treatment to your pots and pails I am not going 
to gainsay. If you will name the price you put upon the 
articles, it is possible the damage may be quietly settled between 
us and all hard feelings forgotten. I was not in a church-going 
humor when we got upon your rock, and it is more than proba- 
ble there was quite as much kicking as preaching among your 


432 


THE PRAIRIE. 


wares ; but a hole in the best man’s coat can be mended by 
money. As to the matter of Ellen Wade, here, it may not be 
got over so easily. Different people have different opinions on 
the subject of matrimony. Some think it is enough to say yes 
and no to the questions of the magistrate or of the parson, if 
one happens to be handy, in order to make a quiet house ; but 
I think that where a young woman’s mind is fairly bent on 
going in a certain direction, it will be quite as prudent to let 
her body follow. Not that I mean to say Ellen was not altoge- 
ther forced to what she did, and therefore she is just as innocent 
in this matter as yonder jackass, who was made to carry her, 
and greatly against his will, too, as I am ready to swear he 
would say himself if he could speak as loud as he can bray.” 

“ Nelly,” resumed the squatter, who paid very little attention 
to what Paul considered a highly creditable and ingenious vindi- 
cation, “ Nelly, this is a wide and a wicked world on which you 
have been in such a hurry to cast yourself. You have fed and 
you have slept in ray camp for a year, and I did hope that you 
had found the free air of the borders enough to your mind to 
wish to remain among us.” 

“Let the girl have her will,” muttered Esther, from the rear; 
“ he who might have persuaded her to stay is sleeping in the 
cold and naked prairie, and little hope is left of changing her 
humor; besides, a woman’s mind is a wilful thing and not 
easily turned from its waywardness, as you know yourself, 
my man, or I should not be here the mother of your sons and 
daughters.” 

The squatter seemed reluctant to abandon his views on the 
abashed girl so easily ; and before he answered to the sugges- 
tion of his wife, he turned his usual dull look along the line of 
the curious countenances of his boys, as if to see whether there 
was not one among them fit to fill the place of the deceased. 
Paul was not slow to observe the expression, and hitting nigher 
than usual on the secret thoughts of the other, he believed he 
had fallen, on an expedient which might remove every difficulty. 

“ It is quite plain, friend Bush,” he said, “ that there are two 


THE PRAIRIE. 


433 


opinions in this matter; yours for your sons, and mine for 
myself. I see but one amicable way of settling this dispute, 
which is as follows : — do you make a choice among your boys 
of any you will, and let us walk off together for the matter of a 
few miles into the prairies ; the one who stays behind can never 
trouble any man’s house or his fixin’, and the one who comes 
back may make the best of his way he can, in the good wishes 
of the young woman.” 

“ Paul !” exclaimed the reproachful but smothered voice of 
Ellen. 

“Never fear, Nelly,” whispered the literal bee-hunter, whose 
straight-going mind suggested no other motive of uneasiness on 
the part of his mistress, than concern for himself ; “ I have taken 
the measure of them all, and you may trust an eye that has 
seen to line many a bee into his hole !” 

“ I am not about to set myself up as a ruler of inclinations,” 
observed the squatter. “ If the heart of the child is truly in 
the settlements, let her declare it; she shall have no let or 
liinderance from me. Speak, Nelly, and let what you say come 
from your wishes, without fear or favor. Would you leave us 
to go with this young man into the settled countries, or will you 
tarry and share the little we have to give, but which to you we 
give so freely ?” 

Thus called upon to decide, Ellen could no longer hesitate. 
The glance of her eye was at first timid and furtive. But as the 
color flushed her features, and her breathing became quick and 
excited, it was apparent that the native spirit of the girl was 
gaining the ascendency over the bashfulness of sex. 

“You took me a fatherless, impoverished, and friendless 
orphan,” she said, struggling to command her voice, “ when 
others, who live in what may be called affluence compared to 
your state, chose to forget me ; and may Heaven in its goodness 
bless you for it ! The little I have done, will never pay you for 
that one act of kindness. I like not your manner of life ; it is 
different from the ways of my childhood, and it is different from 
my wishes ; still, had you not led this sweet and unoffending 
19 


434 


THE PRAIRIE. 


lady from her friends, I should never have quitted you until 
you yourself had said, ‘ Go, and the blessing of God go with 
you !’ ” 

“ The act was not wise, but it is repented of ; and so far as it 
can be done, in safety, it shall be repaired. Now, speak freely, 
will you tarry, or will you go ?” 

“ I have promised the lady,” said Ellen, dropping her eyes 
again to the earth, “ not to leave her ; and after she has received 
so much wrong from all hands, she may have a right to claim 
that I keep my word.” 

“ Take the cords from the young man,” said Ishmael. When 
the order was obeyed, he motioned for all his sons to advance, 
and he placed them in a row before the eyes of Ellen. “ Now 
let there be no trifling, but open your heart. Here ar’ all I have 
to offer, besides a hearty welcome.” 

The distressed girl turned her abashed look from the counte- 
nance of one of the young men to that of another, until her 
eyes met the troubled and working features of Paul. Then 
nature got the better of forms. She threw herself into the arms 
of the bee-hunter, and sufficiently proclaimecj her choice by 
sobbing aloud. Ishmael signed to his sons to fall back, and 
evidently mortified, though perhaps not disappointed by the result, 
he no longer hesitated. 

“ Take her,” he said, “ and deal honestly and kindly by her. 
The girl has that in her which should make her welcome in 
any man’s house, and I should be loath to learn that she ever 
came to harm. And now I have settled with you all, orf terms 
that I hope you will not find hard, but, on the contrary, just 
and manly. I have only another question to ask, and that is 
of the Captain ; do you choose to profit by my teams in going 
into the settlements, or not ?” 

“ I hear that some soldiers of my party are looking for me near 
the villages of the Pawnees,” said Middleton, “ and I intend to 
accompany this chief, in order to join my men.” 

“ Then the sooner we part the better. Horses are plenty on 
the bottom. Go; make your choice, and leave us in peace.” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


435 


“That is impossible, while the old man, who has been a friend 
of my family near half a century, is left a prisoner. What has 
he done that he too is not released ?” 

“ Ask no questions that may lead to deceitful answers,” sul- 
lenly returned the squatter ; “ I have dealings of my own with 
that trapper, that it may not befit an officer of the States to 
meddle with. Go, while your road is open.” 

“ The man may be giving you honest counsel, and that which 
it concerns you all to hearken to,” observed the old captive, who 
seemed in no uneasiness at the extraordinary condition in which 
he found himself. “ The Siouxes are a numberless and bloody- 
minded race, and no one can say how long it may be afore 
they will be out again on the scent of revenge. Therefore, I 
say to you, go, also ; and take especial heed, in crossing the 
bottoms, that you get not entangled again in the fires, for the 
honest hunters often burn the grass at this season, in order that 
the buffaloes may find a sweeter and a greener pasturage in the 
spring.” 

“ I should forget not only my gratitude, but my duty to the 
laws, were I to leave this prisoner in your hands, even by his 
own consent, without knowing the nature of his crime, in which 
we may have all been his innocent accessaries.” 

“ Will it satisfy you to know, that he merits all he will 
receive ?” 

“ It will at least change my opinion of his character.” 

“ Look then at this,” said Ishmael, placing before the eyes of 
the Captain the bullet that had been found about the person of 
the dead Asa ; “ with this morsel of lead did he lay low as 
fine a boy as ever gave joy to a parent’s eyes !” 

“I cannot believe that he has done this deed, unless in self- 
defence, or on some justifiable provocation. That he knew of 
the death of your son, I confess, for he pointed out the brake in 
which the body lay, but that he has wrongfully taken his life, 
nothing but his own acknowledgment shall persuade me to 
believe.” 

“ I have lived long,” commenced the trapper, who found by 


430 


THE PRAIRIE. 


the general pause that he was expected to vindicate himself 
from the heavy imputation, “ and much evil have I seen in my 
day. Many are the prowling bears and leaping panthers that I 
have met, fighting for the morsel which has been thrown in their 
way ; and many are the reasoning men that I have looked on 
striving against each other unto death, in order that human 
madness might also have its hour. For myself, I hope, there 
is no boasting in saying, that though my hand has been needed 
in putting down wickedness and oppression, it has never struck 
a blow of which its owner will be ashamed to hear, at a reckon- 
ing that shall be far mightier than this.” 

“ If my father has taken life from one of his tribe,” said the 
young Pawnee, whose quick eye had read the meaning of what 
was passing, in the bullet and in the countenances of the other's, 
“ let him give himself up to the friends of the dead, like a warrior. 
He is too just to need thongs to lead him to judgment.” 

“Boy, I hope you do me justice. If I had done the foul 
deed with which they charge me, I should have manhood enough 
to come and offer my head to the blow of punishment, as all 
good and honest Bed-men do the same.” Then giving his 
anxious Indian friend a look, to re-assure him of his innocence, 
he turned to the rest of his attentive and interested listeners, 
as he continued in English, “ I have a short story to tell, and he 
that believes it will believe the truth, and he that disbelieves it 
will only lead himself astray, and perhaps his neighbor too. We 
were all out-lying about your camp, friend squatter, as by this time 
you may begin to suspect, when we found that it contained a 
wronged and imprisoned lady, with intentions neither more 
honest nor dishonest than to set her free, as in nature and justice 
she had a right to be. Seeing that I was more skilled in scouting 
than the others, while they lay back in the cover, I was sent 
upon the plain, on the business of the reconnoitrings. You little 
thought that one was so nigh, who saw into all the circumven- 
tions of your hunt; but there was I, sometimes flat behind a 
bush or a tuft of grass, sometimes rolling down a hill into a 
bottom, and little did you dream that your motions were watched, 


THE PRAIRIE. 


437 


as the panther watches the drinking deer. Lord, squatter, when 
I was a man in the pride and strength of my days, I have 
looked in at the tent door of the enemy, and they sleeping, ay, 
and dreaming too, of being at home and in peace. I wish there 
was time to give you the partic ” 

“ Proceed with your explanation,” interrupted Middleton. 

“ Ah ! and a bloody and wicked sight it was ! There I lay 
in a low bed of grass, as two of the hunters came nigh each 
other. Their meeting was not cordial, nor such as men, who 
meet in a desert, should give each other ; but I thought they 
would have parted in peace, until I saw one put his rifle to the 
other’s back, and do what I call a treacherous and sinful murder. 
It was a noble and a manly youth, that boy ! Though the powder 
burnt his coat, he stood the shock for more than a minute, before 
he fell. Then was he brought to his knees, and a desperate 
and manful fight he made to the brake, like a wounded bear 
seeking a cover !” 

“ And why, in the name of heavenly justice, did you conceal 
this ?” cried Middleton. 

“ What ! think you, Captain, that a man who has spent 
more than threescore years in the wilderness, has not learned 
the virtue of discretion ? What red warrior runs to tell the sights 
he has seen, until a fitting time ? I took the Doctor to the 
place, in order to see whether his skill might not come in use ; 
and our friend, the bee-hunter, being in company, was knowing 
to the fact that the bushes held the body.” 

“ Ay ; it ar’ true,” said Paul ; “ but not knowing what private 
reasons might make the old trapper wish to hush the matter 
up, I said as little about the thing as possible ; which was just 
nothing at all.” 

“And who was the perpetrator of this deed?” demanded 
Middleton. 

“ If by perpetrator you mean him who did the act, yonder 
stands the man ; and a shame and a disgrace is it to our race, 
that he is of the blood and family of the dead.” 


438 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ He lies ! he lies !” shrieked Abiram, “ I did no murder ; 
I gave but blow for blow.” 

The voice of Ishmael was deep, and even awful, as he 
answered — 

“ It is enough. Let the old man go. Boys, put the brother 
of your mother in his place.” 

“ Touch me not !” cried Abiram. “ I’ll call on God to curse 
ye if you touch me !” 

The wild and disordered gleam of his eye at first induced the 
young men to arrest their steps ; but when Abner, older and 
more resolute than the rest, advanced full upon him, with a 
countenance that bespoke the hostile state of his mind, the 
affrighted criminal turned, and making an abortive effort to fly, 
fell with his face to the earth, to all appearance perfectly dead. 
Amid the low exclamations of horror which succeeded, Ishmael 
made a gesture which commanded his sons to bear the body into 
a tent. 

“ Now,” he said, turning to those who were strangers in his 
camp, “ nothing is left to be done, but for each to go his own 
road. I wish you all well ; and to you, Ellen, though you may 
not prize the gift, I say, God bless you !” 

Middleton, awe-struck by what he believed a manifest judg- 
ment of Heaven, made no further resistance, but prepared to 
depart. The arrangements were brief, and soon completed. 
When they were all ready, they took a short and silent leave of 
the squatter and his family ; and then the whole of the singularly 
constituted party were seen slowly and silently following the 
victorious Pawnee towards his distant- villages. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


430 


CHAPTER XXXII. 


“ And 1 beseech you, 

Wrest once the law, to your authority : 

To do a great right, do a little wrong.” 

Shakspearb. 

Ishmael awaited long and patiently for the motley train of 
Hard-Heart to disappear. When his scout reported that the 
last straggler of the Indians, who had joined their chief so soon 
as he was at such a distance from the encampment as to excite 
no jealousy by their numbers, had gone behind the most distant 
swell of the prairie, he gave forth the order to strike his tents. 
The cattle were already in the gears, and the movables were 
soon transferred to their usual places in the different vehicles. 
When all these arrangements were completed, the little wagon, 
which had so long been the tenement of Inez, was drawn before 
the tent into which the insensible body of the kidnapper had 
been borne, and preparations were evidently made for the recep- 
tion of another prisoner. Then it was, as Abiram appeared, 
pale, terrified, and tottering beneath a load of detected guilt, 
that the younger members of the family were first apprised that 
he still belonged to the class of the living. A general and 
superstitious impression had spread among them, that his crime 
had been visited by a terrible retribution from Heaven ; and 
they now gazed at him, as at a being who belonged rather to 
another world, than as a mortal, who, like themselves, had still 
to endure the last agony before the great link of human exist- 
ence could be broken. The criminal himself appeared to be 
in a state in which the most sensitive and startling terror was 
singularly combined with total physical apathy. The truth was, 
that while his person had been numbed by the shock, his 


440 


THE PRAIRIE. 


susceptibility to apprehension kept his agitated mind in unrelieved 
distress. When he found himself in the open air, he looked 
about him in order to gather, if possible, some evidences of his 
future fate, from the countenances of those gathered round. 
Seeing everywhere grave but composed features, and meeting 
in no eye any expression that threatened immediate violence, 
the miserable man began to revive ; and, by the time he was 
seated in the wagon, his artful faculties were beginning to plot 
the expedients of parrying the just resentment of his kinsmen, 
or, if these should fail him, the means of escaping from a punish- 
ment that his forebodings told him would be terrible. 

Throughout the whole of these preparations, Ishmael rarely 
spoke. A gesture, or a glance of the eye, served to indicate his 
pleasure to his sons, and with these simple methods of commu- 
nication all parties appeared content. When the signal was 
made to proceed, the squatter threw his rifle into the hollow of 
his arm and his axe across his shoulder, taking the lead as 
usual. Esther buried herself in the wagon which contained her 
daughters ; the young men took their customary places among 
the cattle or nigh the teams ; and the whole proceeded, at their 
ordinary dull but unremitted gait. 

For the first time in many a day the squatter turned his back 
towards the setting sun. The route he held was in the direction 
of the settled country, and the manner in which he moved 
sufficed to tell his children, who had learned to read their father’s 
determinations in his mien, that their journey on the prairie was 
shortly to have an end. Still nothing else transpired for hours, 
that might denote the existence of any sudden or violent revolu- 
tion in the purposes or feelings of Ishmael. During all that 
time he marched alone, keeping a few hundred rods in front of 
his teams, seldom giving any sign of extraordinary excitement. 
Once or twice, indeed, his huge figure was seen standing on the 
summit of some distant swell, with the head bent towards the 
earth, as he leaned on his rifle ; but then these moments of 
intense thought were rare, and of short continuance. The train 
had long thrown its shadows towards the east, before any mate- 


THE PRAIRIE. 


441 


rial alteration was made in the disposition of their march. 
Water-courses were waded, plains were passed, and rolling 
ascents risen and descended, without producing the smallest 
change. Long practised in the difficulties of that peculiar species 
of travelling in which he was engaged, the squatter avoided the 
more impracticable obstacles of their route by a sort of instinct, 
invariably inclining to the right or left in season, as the formation 
of the land, the presence of trees, or the signs of rivers, 
forewarned him of the necessity of such movements. 

At length the hour arrived when charity to man and beast 
required a temporary suspension of labor. Ishmael chose the 
required spot with his customary sagacity. The regular forma- 
tion of the country, such as it has been described in the earlier 
pages of our book, had long been interrupted by a more unequal 
and broken surface. There were, it is true, in general, the same 
wide and empty wastes, the same rich and extensive bottoms, 
and that wild and singular combination of swelling fields and of 
nakedness, which gives that region the appearance of an ancient 
country, incomprehensibly stripped of its people and their 
dwellings. But these distinguishing features of the rolling 
prairies had long been interrupted by irregular hillocks, 
occasional masses of rock, and broad belts of forest. 

Ishmael chose a spring that broke out of the base of a rock 
some forty or fifty feet in elevation, as a place well suited to the 
wants of his herds. The water moistened a small swale that lay 
beneath the spot, which yielded, in return for the fecund gift, a 
scanty growth of grass. A solitary willow had taken root in the 
alluvion, and profiting by its exclusive possession of the soil, the 
tree had sent up its stem far above the crest of the adjacent rock, 
whose peaked summit had once been shadowed by its branches. 
But its loveliness had gone with the mysterious principle of life. 
As if in mockery of the meagre show' of verdure that the spot 
exhibited, it remained a noble and solemn monument of former 
fertility. The larger, ragged, and fantastic branches still 
obtruded themselves abroad, while the white and hoary trunk 
stood naked and tempest-riven. Not a leaf nor a sign of 
19 * 


442 


THE PRAIRIE. 


vegetation was to be seen about it. In all tilings it proclaimed 
the frailty of existence, and the fulfilment of time. 

Here Ishmael, after making the customary signal for the train 
to approach, threw his vast frame upon the earth, and seemed 
to muse on the deep responsibility of his present situation. His 
sons were not long in arriving ; for the cattle no sooner scented 
the food and water than they quickened their pace, and then 
succeeded the usual bustle and avocations of a halt. 

The impression made by the scene of that morning was not so 
deep or lasting on the children of Ishmael and Esther, as to 
induce them to forget the wants of nature. But while the sons 
were searching among their stores for something substantial to 
appease their hunger, and the younger fry were wrangling 
about their simple dishes, the parents of the unnurtured family 
were differently employed. 

When the squatter saw that all, even to the reviving Abiram, 
were busy in administering to their appetites, he gave his 
downcast partner a glance of his eye, and withdrew towards a 
distant roll of the land, which bounded the view towards the 
east. The meeting of the pair in this naked spot was like an 
interview held above the grave of their murdered son. Ishmael 
signed to his wife to take a seat beside him on a fragment of 
rock, and then followed a space during which neither seemed 
disposed to speak. 

“ We have journeyed together long, through good and bad,” 
Ishmael at length commenced : “much have we had to try us, 
and some bitter cups have we been made to swallow, my 
woman ; but nothing like this has ever before lain in my path.” 

“ It is a heavy cross for a poor, misguided, and sinful woman 
to bear !” returned Esther, bowing her head to her knees, and 
partly concealing her face in her dress. “ A heavy and a bur- 
densome weight is this to be laid upon the shoulders of a sister 
and a mother !” 

“ Ay ; therein lies the hardship of the case. I had brought 
my mind to the punishment of that houseless trapper, with no 
great strivings, for the man had done me few favors, and God 


TIIE PRAIRIE. 


443 


forgive me if I suspected him wrongfully of much evil ! This is, 
however, bringing shame in at one door of my cabin in order to 
drive it out at the other. But shall a son of mine be murdered, 
and he who did it go at large ? — the boy would never rest !” 

“ Oh ! Ishmael, we pushed the matter far ! Had little been 
said, who would have been the wiser ? Our consciences might 
then have been quiet.” 

“ Eest’er,” said the husband, turning on her a reproachful, 
but still a dull regard, “ the hour has been, my woman, when 
you thought another hand had done this wickedness.” 

“I did, I did ! the Lord gave me the feeling as a punishment for 
my sins ! but his mercy was not slow in lifting the veil; I looked 
into the book, Ishmael, and there I found the words of comfort.” 

“ Have you that book at hand, woman ? it may happen to 
advise in such a dreary business.” 

Esther fumbled in her pocket, and was not long in producing 
the fragment of a Bible which had been thumbed and smoke- 
dried till the print was nearly illegible. It was the only article 
in the nature of a book that was to be found among the chattels 
of the squatter, and it had been preserved by his wife as a 
melancholy relic of more prosperous, and possibly of more inno- 
cent days. She had long been in the habit of resorting to it 
under the pressure of such circumstances as were palpably 
beyond human redress, though her spirit and resolution rarely 
needed support under those that admitted of reparation through 
any of the ordinary means of reprisal. In this manner Esther 
had made a sort of convenient ally of the word of God ; rarely 
troubling it for counsel, however, except when her own incom- 
petency to avert an evil was too apparent to be disputed. We 
shall leave casuists to determine how far she resembled any 
other believers in this particular, and proceed directly with the 
matter before us. 

“There are many awful passages in these pages, Ishmael,” 
she said, when the volume was opened, and the leaves were 
slowly turning under her finger, “ and some there ar’ that teach 
the rules of punishment.” 


444 


THE PRAIRIE. 


Her husband made a gesture for her to find one of those 
brief rules of conduct which have been received among all 
Christian nations as the direct mandates of the Creator, and 
which have been found so just, that even they who deny their 
high authority, admit their wisdom. Ishmael listened with 
grave attention as his companion read all those verses which her 
memory suggested, and which were thought applicable to the 
situation in which they found themselves. He made her show 
him the words, which he regarded with a sort of strange reve- 
rence. A resolution once taken was usually irrevocable in one 
who was moved with so much difficulty. He put his hand 
upon the book and closed the pages himself, as much as to 
apprise his wife that he was satisfied. Esther, who so well knew 
his character, trembled at the action, and casting a glance at 
his steady eye, she said — 

“ And yet, Ishmael, my blood and the blood of my children 
is in his veins ! cannot mercy be shown ?” 

“Woman,” he answered, sternly, “ when we believed that miser- 
able old trapper had done this deed, nothing was said of mercy !” 

Esther made no reply, but folding her arms upon her breast 
she sat silent and thoughtful for many minutes. Then she once 
more turned her anxious gaze upon the countenance of her 
husband, where she found all passion and care apparently buried 
in the coldest apathy. Satisfied now that the fate of her brother 
was sealed, and possibly conscious how well he merited the 
punishment that was meditated, she no longer thought of medi- 
ation. No more words passed between them. Their eyes met 
for an instant, and then both arose and walked in profound 
silence towards the encampment. 

The squatter found his children expecting his return in the 
usual listless manner with which they awaited all coming events. 
The cattle were already herded, and the horses in their gears in 
readiness to proceed, so soon as he should indicate that such 
was his pleasure. The children were already in their proper 
vehicle, and, in short, nothing delayed the departure but the 
absence of the parents of the wild brood. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


44 5 


“ Abner,” said the father, with the deliberation with which 
all his proceedings were characterized, “take the brother of 
your mother from the wagon, and let him stand on the ’arth.” 

Abiram issued from his place of concealment, trembling, it is 
true, but far from destitute of hopes as to his final success in 
appeasing the just resentment of his kinsman. After throwing 
a glance around him wnth the vain wish of finding a single 
countenance in which he might detect a solitary gleam of sym- 
pathy, he endeavored to smother those apprehensions that were 
by this time reviving in their original violence, by forcing a 
sort of friendly communication between himself and the squat- 
ter — 

“ The beasts are getting jaded, brother,” he said ; “ and as 
we have made so good a march already, is it not time to ’camp ? 
To my eye you may go far before a better place than this is 
found to pass the night in.” 

“ ’Tis well you like it. Your tarry here ar’ likely to be long. 
My sons, draw nigh and listen. Abiram White,” he added, 
lifting his cap, and speaking with a solemnity and steadiness 
that rendered even his dull mien imposing, “you have slain 
my first-born, and according to the laws of God and man must 
you die !” 

The kidnapper started at this terrible and sudden sentence, 
with the terror that one would exhibit who unexpectedly found 
himself in the grasp of a monster from whose power there was 
no retreat. Although filled with the most serious forebodings 
of what might be his lot, his courage had not been equal to 
look his danger in the face, and with the deceitful consolation 
with which timid tempers are apt to conceal their desperate 
condition from themselves, he had rather courted a treache- 
rous relief in his cunning, than prepared himself for the worst. 

“ Die ! ” he repeated, in a voice that scarcely issued from his 
chest ; “ a man is surely safe among his kinsmen ?” 

“ So thought my boy,” returned the squatter, motioning for 
the team that contained his wife and the girls to proceed, as he 
very coolly examined the priming of his piece. “By the rifle 


446 


THE PRAIRIE. 


did you destroy my son ; it is fit and just that you meet your 
end by the same weapon.” 

Abiram stared about him with a gaze that bespoke an unset- 
tled reason. He even laughed, as if he would not only persuade 
himself but others that what he heard was some pleasantry 
intended to try his nerves. But nowhere did his frightful 
merriment meet with an answering echo. All around was 
solemn and still. The visages of his nephews were excited, but 
cold towards him, and that of his former confederate frightfully 
determined. This very steadiness of mien was a thousand times 
more alarming and hopeless than any violence could have 
proved. The latter might possibly have touched his spirit and 
awakened resistance, but the former threw him entirely on the 
feeble resources of himself, 

“ Brother,” he said, in a hurried, unnatural whisper, “ did I 
hear you ?” 

“ My words are plain, Abiram White : thou hast done mur- 
der, and for the same must thou die ?” 

“ Esther ! sister, sister, will you leave me ! Oh ! sister ! do 
you hear my call ?” 

“ I hear one speak from the grave !” returned the husky tones 
of Esther, as the wagon passed the spot where the criminal 
stood. “ It is the voice of my first-born calling aloud for justice ! 
God have mercy, God have mercy on your soul !” 

The team slowly pursued its route, and the deserted Abiram 
now found himself deprived of the smallest vestige of hope. 
Still he could not summon fortitude to meet his death, and had 
not his limbs refused to aid him he would yet have attempted 
to fly. Then, by a sudden revolution from hope to utter des- 
pair, he fell upon his knees, and commenced a prayer in which 
cries for mercy to God and to his kinsman were wildly and 
blasphemously mingled. The sons of Ishmael turned away in 
horror at the disgusting spectacle, and even the stern nature of 
the squatter began to bend before so abject misery. 

“ May that which you ask of Him be granted,” he said, “ but 
a father can never forget a murdered child.” 


THE PRAIRIE. 


447 


He was answered by the most humble appeals for time. A 
week, a day, an hour, were each implored with an earnestness 
commensurate to the value they receive when a whole life is 
compressed into their short duration. The squatter was trou- 
bled, and at length he yielded in part to the petitions of the 
criminal. His final purpose was not altered, though he changed 
the means. “ Abner,” he said, “ mount the rock and look on 
every side that we may be sure none are nigh.” 

While his nephew was obeying this order, gleams of reviving 
hope were seen shooting across the quivering features of the 
kidnapper. The report was favorable, nothing having life, the 
retiring teams excepted, was to be seen. A messenger was, 
however, coming from the latter in great apparent haste. Ish- 
mael awaited its arrival. He received from the hands of one 
of his wondering and frighted girls a fragment of that book 
which Esther had preserved with so much care. The squatter 
beckoned the child away, and placed the leaves in the hands of 
the criminal. 

“Eest’er has sent you this,” he said, “that in your last 
moments you may remember God.” 

“ Bless her, bless her ! a good and kind sister has she been 
to me ! But time must be given that I may read ; time, my 
brother, time !” 

“ Time shall not be wanting. You shall be your own execu- 
tioner, and this miserable office shall pass away from my 
hands.” 

Ishmael proceeded to put his new resolution in force. The 
immediate apprehensions of the kidnapper were quieted by an 
assurance that he might yet live for days, though his punish- 
ment was inevitable. A reprieve to one abject and wretched as 
Abiram, temporarily produced the same effects as a pardon. 
He was even foremost in assisting in the appalling arrangements, 
and of all the actors in that solemn tragedy, his voice alone was 
facetious and jocular. 

A thin shelf of the rock projected beneath one of the ragged 
arms of the willow. It was many feet from the ground, and 


448 


THE PKAIRIE. 


admirably adapted to the purpose which, in fact, its appearance 
had suggested. On this little platform the criminal was placed, 
.his arms bound at the elbows behind his back, beyond the 
possibility of liberation, with a proper cord leading from his 
neck to the limb of the tree. The latter was so placed, that 
when suspended the body could find no foot-hold. The frag- 
ment of the Bible was placed in his hands, and he was left to 
seek his consolation as he might from its pages. 

“ And now, Abiram White,” said the squatter, when his sons 
had descended from completing this arrangement, “ I give you 
a last and solemn asking. Death is before you in two shapes. 
With this rifle can your misery be cut short, or by that cord, 
sooner or later, must you meet your end.” 

“ Let me yet live ! Oh, Ishmael, you know not how sweet 
life is when the last moment draws so nigh !” 

“ ’Tis done,” said the squatter, motioning for his assistants to 
follow the herds and teams. “ And now, miserable man, that 
it may prove a consolation to your end, I forgive you my wrongs 
and leave you to your God.” 

Ishmael turned and pursued his way across the plain at his 
ordinary sluggish and ponderous gait. Though his head was 
bent a little towards the earth, his inactive mind did not prompt 
him to cast a look behind. Once, indeed, he thought he heard 
his name called in tones that were a little smothered, but they 
failed to make him pause. 

At the spot where he and Esther had conferred he reached 
the boundary of the visible horizon from the rock. Here he 
stopped, and ventured a glance in the direction of the place he 
had just quitted. The sun was near dipping into the plains 
beyond, and its last rays lighted the naked branches of the 
willow. He saw the ragged outline of the whole drawn against 
the glowing heavens, and he even traced the still upright form 
of the being he had left to his misery. Turning the roll of 
the swell, he proceeded with the feelings of one who had been 
suddenly and violently separated from a recent confederate for 


ever. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


449 


Within a mile the squatter overtook his teams. His sons 
had found a place suited to the encampment for the night, and 
merely awaited his approach to confirm their choice. Few 
words were necessary to express his acquiescence. Everything 
passed in a silence more general and remarkable than ever. 
The chidings of Esther were not heard among her young, or if 
heard, they were more in the tones of softened admonition than 
in her usual upbraiding key. 

No questions nor explanations passed between the husband 
and his wife. It was only as the latter was about to withdraw 
among her children for the night, that the former saw her taking 
a furtive look at the pan of his rifle. Ishmael bade his sons 
seek their rest, announcing his intention to look to the safety of 
the camp in person. When all was still, he walked out upon 
the prairie with a sort of sensation that he found his breathing 
among the tents too straitened. The night was well adapted 
to heighten the feelings which had been created by the events 
of the day. 

The wind had risen with the moon, and it was occasionally 
sweeping over the plain in a manner that made it not difficult 
for the sentinel to imagine strange and unearthly sounds were 
mingling in the blasts. Yielding to the extraordinary impulses 
of which he was the subject, he cast a glance around to see that 
all were slumbering in security, and then he strayed towards the 
swell of land already mentioned. Here the squatter found him- 
self at a point that commanded a view to the east and to the 
west. Light fleecy clouds were driving before the moon, which 
was cold and watery, though there were moments when its 
placid rays were shed from clear blue fields, seeming to soften 
objects to its own mild loveliness. 

For the first time, in a life of so much wild adventure, 
Ishmael felt a keen sense of solitude. The naked prairies began 
to assume the forms of illimitable and dreary wastes, and the 
rushing of the wind sounded like the whisperings of the dead. 
It was not long before he thought a shriek was borne past him 
on a blast. It did not sound like a call from earth, but it swept 


450 


THE PRAIRIE. 


frightfully through the upper air, mingled with the hoarse 
accompaniment of the wind. The teeth of the squatter were 
compressed, and his huge hand grasped the rifle, as if it would 
crush the metal. Then came a lull, a fresher blast, and a cry of 
horror that seemed to have been uttered -at the very portals of 
his ears. A sort of echo burst involuntarily from his own lips, 
as men shout under unnatural excitement, and throwing his 
rifle across his shoulder, he proceeded towards the rock with 
the strides of a giant. 

It was not often that the blood of Ishmael moved at the rate 
with which the fluid circulates in the veins of ordinary men ; 
but now he felt it ready to gush from every pore in his body. 
The animal was aroused, in his most latent energies. Ever as 
he advanced he heard those shrieks, which sometimes seemed 
ringing among the clouds, and sometimes passed so nigh, as to 
appear to brush the earth. At length there came a cry in 
which there could be no delusion, or to which the imagination 
could lend no horror. It appeared to fill each cranny of the 
air, as the visible horizon is often charged to fulness by one 
dazzling flash of the electric fluid. The name of God was 
distinctly audible, but it was awfully and blasphemously blended 
with sounds that may not be repeated. The squatter stopped, 
and for a moment he covered his ears with his hands. When 
he withdrew the latter, a low and husky voice at his elbow 
asked in smothered tones — 

“ Ishmael, my man, heard ye nothing ?” 

“ Hist !” returned the husband, laying a powerful arm on 
Esther, without manifesting the smallest surprise at the unlooked- 
for presence of his wife. “ Hist, woman ! if you have the fear 
of Heaven, be still !” 

A profound silence succeeded. Though the wind rose and fell 
as before, its rushing was no longer mingled with those fearful 
cries. The sounds were imposing and solemn, but it was the 
solemnity and majesty of nature. 

“ Let us go on,” said Esther; “all is hushed.” 

“ Woman, what has brought you here ?” demanded her 


THE PRAIRIE. 


451 


husband, whose blood had returned into its former channels, and 
whose thoughts had already lost a portion of their excitement. 

“ Ishmael, he murdered our first-born : but it is not meet that 
the son of my mother should lie upon the ground, like the 
carrion of a dog.” 

“ Follow!” returned the squatter, again grasping his rifle, and 
striding towards the rock. The distance was still considerable ; 
and their approach, as they drew nigh the place of execution, 
was moderated by awe. Many minutes had passed before they 
reached a spot where they might distinguish the outlines of the 
dusky objects. 

“ Where have you put the body ?” whispered Esther. “ See, 
here are pick and spade, that a brother of mine may sleep in the 
bosom of the earth !” 

The moon broke from behind a mass of clouds, and the eye 
of the woman was enabled to follow the finger of Ishmael. It 
pointed to a human form swinging in the wind, beneath the 
ragged and shining arm of the willow. Esther bent her head 
and veiled her eyes from the sight. But Tshmael drew nigher, 
and long contemplated his work in awe, though not in compunc- 
tion. The leaves of the sacred book were scattered on the 
ground, and even a fragment of the shelf had been displaced by 
the kidnapper in his agony. But all was now in the stillness of 
death. The grim and convulsed countenance of the victim was 
at times brought full into the light of the moon, and again as the 
wind lulled, the fatal rope drew a dark line across its bright disk. 
The squatter raised his rifle with extreme care, and fired. The 
cord was cut, and the body came lumbering to the earth, a 
heavy and insensible mass. 

Until now Esther had not moved nor spoken. But her hand 
was not slow to assist in the labor of the hour. The grave was 
soon dug. It was instantly made to receive its miserable tenant. 
As the lifeless form descended, Esther, who sustained the head, 
looked up into the face of her husband with an expression of 
anguish, and said — 


452 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ Ishmael, my man, it is very terrible ! I cannot kiss the 
corpse of my father’s child !” 

The squatter laid his broad hand on the bosom of the dead, 
and said — 

“ Abiram White, we all have need of mercy ; from my soul 
do I forgive you ! May God in Heaven have pity on your 
sins !” 

The woman bowed her face, and imprinted her lips long and 
fervently on the pallid forehead of her brother. After this came 
the falling clods and all the solemn sounds of filling a grave. 
Esther lingered on her knees, and Ishmael stood uncovered while 
the woman muttered a prayer. All was then finished. 

On the following morning the teams and herds of the squatter 
were seen pursuing their course towards the settlements. As 
they approached the confines of society the train was blended 
among a thousand others. Though some of the numerous 
descendants of this peculiar pair were reclaimed from their law- 
less and semi-barbarous lives, the principals of the family 
themselves were never heard of more. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


453 


CHAPTER XXXIII. 

“ — No leave take I ; for I will ride, 

As far as land will let me, by your side.” Shakspeare. 

The passage of the Pawnee to liis village was interrupted by 
no scene of violence. His vengeance had been as complete as it 
was summary. Not even a solitary scout of the Siouxes was left 
on the hunting-grounds he was obliged to traverse, and of course 
the journey of Middleton’s party was as peaceful as if made in 
the bosom of the States. The marches were timed to meet the 
weakness of the females. In short, the victors seemed to have 
lost every trace of ferocity with their success, and appeared dis- 
posed to consult the most trifling of the wants of that engrossing 
people who were daily encroaching on their rights, and reducing 
the Red-men of the west from their state of proud independence 
to the condition of fugitives and wanderers. 

Our limits will not permit a detail of the triumphal entry of 
the conquerors. The exultation of the tribe was proportioned 
to its previous despondency. Mothers boasted of the honorable 
deaths of their sons ; wives proclaimed the honor and pointed tc 
the scars of their husbands ; and Indian girls rewarded the young 
braves with songs of triumph. The trophies of their fallen 
enemies were exhibited, as conquered standards are displayed in 
more civilized regions. The deeds of former warriors were 
recounted by the aged men, and declared to be eclipsed by the 
glory of this victory. While Hard-Heart himself, so distin- 
guished for his exploits from boyhood to that hour, was 
unanimously proclaimed and reproclaimed the worthiest chief 
and the stoutest brave that the "Wahcondah had ever bestowed 
on his most favored children, the Pawnees of the Loups. 

Notwithstanding the comparative security in which Middleton 


454 


TI1E PRAIRIE. 


found his recovered treasure, he was not sorry to see his faithful 
and sturdy artillerists standing among the throng as he entered 
in the wild train, and lifting their voices in a martial shout, to 
greet his return. The presence of this force, small as it was 
removed every shadow of uneasiness from his mind. It made 
him master of his movements, gave him dignity and importance 
in the eyes of his new friends, and would enable him to overcome 
the difficulties of the wide region which still lay between the 
village of the Pawnees and the nearest fortress of his country- 
men. A lodge was yielded to the exclusive possession of Inez 
and Ellen ; and even Paul, when he saw an armed sentinel in 
the uniform of the States pacing before its entrance, was content 
to stray among the dwellings of the “ Red-skins,” prying with 
but little reserve into their domestic economy, commenting 
sometimes jocularly, sometimes gravely, and always freely, on 
their different expedients, or endeavoring to make the wondering 
housewives comprehend his quaint explanations of what he 
conceived to be the better customs of the whites. 

This inquiring and troublesome spirit found no imitators 
among the Indians. The delicacy and reserve of Hard-Heart 
were communicated to liis people. When every attention that 
could be suggested by their simple manners and narrow wants 
had been fulfilled, no intrusive foot presumed to approach the 
cabins devoted to the service of the strangers. They were left 
to seek their repose in the manner which most comported with 
their habits and inclinations. The songs and rejoicings of the 
tribe, however, ran far into the night, during the deepest hours 
of which the voice of more than one warrior was heard, recount- 
ing, from the top of his lodge, the deeds of his people and the 
glory of their triumphs. 

Everything having life, notwithstanding the excesses of the 
night, was abroad with the appearance of the sun. The expres- 
sion of exultation, which had so lately been seen on every 
countenance, was now changed to one better suited to the feeling 
of the moment. It was understood by all, that the Pale-faces, 
who had befriended their chief, were about to take their final 


THE PRAIRIE. 


455 


leave of the tribe. The soldiers of Middleton, in anticipation of 
his arrival, had bargained with an unsuccessful trader for the use 
of his boat, which lay in the stream ready to receive its cargo, 
and nothing remained to complete the arrangements for the long 
journey. 

Middleton did not see this moment arrive entirely without 
distrust. The admiration with which Hard-Heart regarded 
Inez had not escaped his jealous eye, any more than had the 
lawless wishes of Mahtoree. He knew the consummate manner 
in which a savage could conceal his designs, and he felt that it 
would be a culpable weakness to be unprepared for the worst. 
Secret instructions were therefore given to his men, while the 
preparations they made were properly masked behind the show 
of military parade, with which it was intended to signalize their 
departure. 

The conscience of the young soldier reproached him, when 
he saw the whole tribe accompanying his party to the margin 
of the stream, with unarmed hands and sorrowful countenances. 
They gathered in a circle around the strangers and their chief, 
and became not only peaceful, but highly interested observers 
of what was passing. As it was evident that Hard-Heart 
intended to speak, the former stopped, and manifested their 
readiness to listen, the trapper performing the office of interpreter. 
Then the young chief addressed his people, in the usual 
metaphorical language of an Indian. He commenced by 
alluding to the antiquity and renown of his own nation. He 
spoke of their successes in the hunts and on the war-path ; of the 
manner in which they had always known how to defend their 
rights and to chastise their enemies. After he had said enough 
to manifest his respect for the greatness of the Loups, and to 
satisfy the pride of the listeners, he made a sudden transition to 
the race of whom the strangers were members. He compared 
their countless numbers to the flights of migratory birds in the 
season of blossoms, or in the fall of the year. With a delicacy 
that none knew better how to practise than an Indian warrior, he 
made no direct mention of the. rapacious tempers that so many 


450 


THE PRAIRIE. 


of them had betrayed, in their dealings with the Red-men. 
Feeling that the sentiment of distrust was strongly engrafted in 
the tempers of his tribe, he rather endeavored to soothe any 
just resentment they might entertain, by indirect excuses and 
apologies. He reminded the listeners that even the Pawnee 
Loups had been obliged to chase many unworthy individuals 
from their villages. The Wahcondah sometimes veiled his 
countenance from a Red-man. No doubt the Great Spirit of 
the Pale-faces often looked darkly on his children. Such as 
were abandoned to the worker of evil could never be brave or 
virtuous, let the color of the skin be what it might. He bade 
his young men look at the hands of the Big-knives. They 
were not empty, like those of hungry beggars. Neither were 
they filled with goods, like those of knavish traders. They were, 
like themselves, warriors, and they carried arms which they knew 
well how to use — they were worthy to be called brothers ! 

Then he directed the attention of all to the chief of the 
strangers. He was a son of their great white father. He had 
not come upon the prairies to frighten the buffaloes from their 
pastures, or to seek the game of the Indians. Wicked men had 
robbed him of one of his wives ; no doubt she was the most 
obedient, the meekest, the loveliest of them all. They had only 
to open their eyes to see that his words must be true. Now 
that the white chief had found his wife, he was about to return 
to his own people in peace. He would tell them that the 
Pawnees were just, and there would be a line of wampum 
between the two nations. Let all his people wish the strangers 
a safe return to their towns. The warriors of the Loups knew 
both how to receive their enemies, and how to clear the briers 
from the path of their friends. 

The heart of Middleton beat quick as the young partisan* 

* The Americans and the Indians have adopted several words, which each 
believe peculiar to the language of the others. Thus “ squaw,” “ papoose,” or child, 
wigwam, &c. &c., though it is doubtful whether they belonged at all to any Indian 
dialect, are much used by both white and red men in their intercourse. Many 
words are derived from the French, in this species of prairie nomaic. Partisan, 
brave, &c., are of the number. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


457 


alluded to the charms of Inez, and for an instant he cast an 
impatient glance at his little line of artillerists ; but the chief 
from that moment appeared to forget he had ever seen so 
fair a being. His feelings, if he had any on the subject, were 
veiled behind the cold mask of Indian self-denial. He took each 
warrior by the hand, not forgetting the meanest soldier, but his 
cold and collected eye never wandered for an instant towards 
either of the females. Arrangements had been made for their 
comfort, with a prodigality and care that had not failed to excite 
some surprise in his young men, but in no other particular did 
he shock their manly pride, by betraying any solicitude in 
behalf of the weaker sex. 

The leave-taking was general and imposing. Each male 
Pawnee was sedulous to omit no one of the strange warriors in 
his attentions, and of course the ceremony occupied some time. 
The only exception, and that was not general, was in the case 
of Dr. Battius. !Not a few of the young men, it is true, were 
indifferent about lavishing civilities on one of so doubtful a pro- 
fession, but the worthy naturalist found some consolation in the 
mere matured politeness of the old men, who had inferred, 
that though not of much use in war, the medicine of the Big- 
knives might possibly be made serviceable in peace. 

When all of Middleton’s party had embarked, the trapper 
lifted a small bundle, which had lain at his feet during the pre- 
vious proceedings, and whistling Hector to his side, he was the 
last to take his seat. The artillerists gave the usual cheers, 
which were answered by a shout from the tribe, and then the 
boat was shoved into the current, and began to glide swiftly 
down its stream. 

A long and a musing, if not a melancholy silence, succeeded 
this departure. It was first broken by the trapper, whose regret 
was not the least visible in his dejected and sorrowful eye — 

“ They are a valiant and an honest tribe,” he said ; “ that will 
I say boldly in their favor ; and second only do I take them to 
be to that once mighty but now scattered people, the Delawares 
of the Hills. Ah’s me, Captain, if you had seen as much good 
20 


458 


THE PRAIRIE. 


and evil as I liave seen in these nations of Red-skins, you would 
know of how much value was a brave and simple-minded war- 
rior. I know that some are to be found, who both think and 
say that an Indian is but little better than the beasts of these 
naked plains. But it is needful to be honest in one’s self, to be 
a fitting judge pf honesty in others. No doubt, no doubt, they 
know their enemies, and little do they care to show to such any 
great confidence or love.” 

“ It is the way of man,” returned the Captain ; “ and it is 
probable they are not wanting in any of his natural qualities.” 

“ No, no ; it is little that they want, that natur’ has had to 
give. But as little does he know of the temper of a Red-skin, 
who has seen but one Indian, or one tribe, as he knows of the 
color of feathers who has only looked upon a crow. Now, 
friend steersman, just give the boat a sheer towards yonder low 
sandy point, and a favor will be granted at a short asking.” 

“ For what ?” demanded Middleton ; “ we are now in the 
swiftest of the current, and by drawing to the shore we shall lose 
the force of the stream.” 

“ Your tarry will not be long,” returned the old man, applying 
his own hand to the execution of that which he had requested. 
The oarsmen had seen enough of his influence with their leader 
not to dispute his wishes, and before time was given for further 
discussion on the subject, the bow of the boat had touched the 
land. 

“ Captain,” resumed the other, untying his little wallet with 
great deliberation, and even in a manner to show he found 
satisfaction in the delay, “ I wish to offer you a small matter 
of trade. No great bargain, mayhap ; but still the best that 
one, of whose hand the skill of the rifle has taken leave, and 
who has become no better than a miserable trapper, can offer 
before we part.” 

“ Part !” was echoed from every mouth, among those who 
had so recently shared his dangers, and profited by his care. 

“ What the devil, old trapper, do you mean to foot it to the 
settlements, when here is a boat that will float the distance in 


THE PRAIRIE. 


459 


half the time that the jackass the Doctor has given the Pawnee, 
could trot along the same ?” 

“ Settlements, boy ! It is long sin’ I took my leave of the 
waste and wickedness of the settlements and the villages. If I 
live in a clearing, here, it is one of the Lord’s making, and I 
have no hard thoughts on the matter ; but never again shall I 
be seen running wilfully into the danger of immoralities.” 

“ I had not thought of parting,” answered Middleton, endea- 
voring to seek some relief from the uneasiness he felt, by turning 
his eyes on the sympathizing countenances of his friends ; “ on 
the contrary, I had hoped and believed that you would have 
accompanied us below, where, I give you a sacred pledge, nothing 
shall be wanting to make your days comfortable.” 

“ Yes, lad, yes ; you would do your endeavors ; but what are 
the strivings of man against the working of the devil f Ay, if 
kind offers and good wishes could have done the thing, I might 
have been a congress-man, or perhaps a governor, years agone. 
Your gran’ther wished the same, and there are them still living 
in the Otsego mountains, as I hope, who would gladly have 
given me a palace for my dwelling. But what are riches without 
content ? My time must now be short, at any rate, and I hold 
it’s no mighty sin for one who has acted his part honestly near 
ninety winters and summers, to wish to pass the few hours that 
remain in comfort. If you think I have done wrong in coming 
thus far to quit you again, Captain, I will own the reason of the 
act, without shame or backwardness. Though I have seen so 
much of the wilderness, it is not to be gainsaid, that my feelings, 
as well as my skin, are white. Now it would not be a fitting 
spectacle that yonder Pawnee Loup should look upon the weak- 
ness of an old warrior, if weakness he should happen to show in 
parting for ever from those he has reason to love, though he may 
not set his heart so strongly on them as to wish to go into the 
settlements in their company.” 

“ Harkee, old trapper,” said Paul, clearing his throat with a 
desperate effort, as if determined to give his voice a clear exit ; 
“ I have just one bargain to make, since you talk of trading, 


4G0 


THE PRAIRIE. 


which is neither more nor less than this. I offer you, as my 
side of the business, one half of my shanty, nor do I much caro 
if it be the biggest half ; the sweetest and the purest honey that 
can be made of the wild locust ; always enough to eat, with now 
and then a mouthful of venison, or, for that matter, a morsel of 
buffalo’s hump, seeing that I intend to push my acquaintance 
with the animal, and as good and as tidy cooking as can come 
from the hands of one like Ellen Wade, here, who will shortly 
be Nelly somebody-else, and altogether such general treatment 
as a decent man might be supposed to pay to his best friend, or, 
for that matter, to his own father ; in return for the same, you 
ar’ to give us at odd moments some of your ancient traditions, per- 
haps a little wholesome advice on occasions, in small quantities 
at a time, and as much of your agreeable company as you please.” 

“ It is well — it is well, boy,” returned the old man, fumbling 
at his wallet ; “ honestly offered, and not unthankfully declined — 
but it cannot be ; no, it can never be.” 

“ Venerable Venator,” said Dr. Battius ; “ there are obliga- 
tions which every man owes to society and to human nature. 
It is time that you should return to your countrymen, to deliver 
up some of those stores of experimental knowledge that you 
have doubtless obtained by so long a sojourn in the wilds, which, 
however they may be corrupted by preconceived opinions, will 
prove acceptable bequests to those whom, as you say, you must 
shortly leave for ever.” 

“Friend physicianer,” returned the trapper, looking the other 
steadily in the face, “ as it would be no easy matter to judge of 
the temper of the rattler by considering the fashions of the moose, 
so it would be hard to speak of the usefulness of one man by 
thinking too much of the deeds of another. You have your 
gifts like others, I suppose, and little do I wish to disturb them. 
But as to me, the Lord has made me for a doer and not a talker, 
and therefore do I consider it no harm to shut my ears to your 
invitation.” 

“It is enough,” interrupted Middleton; “I have seen and 
heard so much of this extraordinary man, as to know that per- 


the prairie. 


401 


suasions will not change his purpose. First, we will hear your 
request, my friend, and then we will consider what may be best 
done for your advantage.” 

“ It is a small matter, Captain,” returned the old man, suc- 
ceeding at length in opening his bundle. “ A small and trifling 
matter is it, to what I once used to offer in the way of bargain ; 
but then it is the best I have, and therein not to be despised. 
Here are the skins of four beavers, that I took, it might be a 
month afore we met, and here is another from a raccoon, that is 
of no great matter to be sure, but which may serve to make 
weight atween us.” 

“ And what do you propose to do with them ?” 

“ I offer them in lawful barter. Them knaves the Siouxes, 
the Lord forgive me for ever believing it was the Konzas ! have 
stolen the best of my traps, and driven me altogether to make- 
shift inventions, which might foretell a dreary winter for me, 
should my time stretch into another season. I wish you there- 
fore to take the skins, and to offer them to some of the trappers 
you will not fail to meet below, in exchange for a few traps, and 
to send the same into the Pawnee village in my name. Be 
careful to have my mark painted on them ; a letter N, with a 
hound’s ear, and the lock of a rifle. There is no Red-skin who 
will then dispute my right. For all which trouble I have little 
more to offer than my thanks, unless my friend, the bee-hunter 
here, will accept of the raccoon, and take on himself the special 
charge of the whole matter.” 

“ If I do may I be 1” The mouth of Paul was stopped 

by the hand of Ellen, and he was obliged to swallow the rest 
of the sentence, which he did with a species of emotion that 
bore no slight resemblance to the process of strangulation. 

“ Well, well,” returned the old man, meekly ; “ I hope there 
is no heavy offence in the offer. I know that the skin of a 
raccoon is of small price, but then it was no mighty labor that I 
asked in return.” 

“You entirely mistake the meaning of our friend,” interrupted 
Middleton, who observed that the bee-hunter was looking in 


4G2 


THE PRAIRIE. 


every direction but the right one, and that he was utterly una- 
ble to make his own vindication. “He did not mean to say 
that he declined the charge, but merely that he refused 
all compensation. It is unnecessary, however, to say more 
of this ; it shall be my office to see that the debt we owe is 
properly discharged, and that all your necessities shall be antici- 
pated.” 

“ Anan !” said the old man, looking up inquiringly into the 
other’s face, as if to ask an explanation. 

“ It shall all be as you wish. Lay the skins with my baggage. 
We will bargain for you as for ourselves.” 

“ Thankee, thankee, captain ; your gran’ther was of a free and 
generous mind. So much so, in truth, that those just people, 
the Delawares, called him the 1 Open-hand.’ I wish, now, I was 
as I used to be, in order that I might send in the lady a few 
delicate martens for her tippets and overcoats, just to show you 
that I know how to give courtesy for courtesy. But do not 
expect the same, for I am too old to give a promise ! It will all 
be just as the Lord shall see fit. I can offer you nothing else, 
for I haven’t lived so long in the wilderness not to know the 
scrupulous ways of a gentleman.” 

“ Harkee, old trapper,” cried the bee-hunter, striking his own 
hand into the open palm which the other had extended, with a 
report but little below the crack of a rifle, “ I have just two things 
to say — Firstly, that the Captain has told you my meaning better 
than I can myself ; and secondly, if you want a skin, either for 
your private use or to send abroad, I have it at your service ; 
and that is the skin of one Paul Hover !” 

The old man returned the grasp he received, and opened his 
mouth to the utmost, in his extraordinary, silent laugh. 

“You couldn’t have given such a squeeze, boy, when the 
Teton squaws were about you with their knives ! Ah ! you are 
in your prime, and in your vigor and happiness, if honesty lies in 
your path.” Then the expression of his rugged features suddenly 
changed to a look of seriousness and thought. “ Come hither, 
lad,” he said, leading the bee-hunter by a button, to the land, 


TIIE PRAIItlE. 


4G3 

and speaking apart in a tone of admonition and confidence; 
“ much has passed atween us on the pleasures and respectable- 
ness of a life in the woods or on the borders. 1 do not now 
mean to say that all you have heard is not true ; but different 
tempers call for different employments. You have taken to your 
bosom, there, a good and kind child, and it has become your 
duty to consider her, as well as yourself, in setting forth in life. 
You are a little given to skirting the settlements ; but to my 
poor judgment the girl would be more like a flourishing flower 
in the sun of a clearing, than in the winds of a prairie. There- 
fore forget anything you may have heard from me, which is 
nevertheless true, and turn your mind on the ways of the inner 
country.” 

Paul could only answer with a squeeze that would have 
brought tears from the eyes of most men, but which produced 
no other effect on the indurated muscles of the other than to 
make him laugh and nod, as if he received the same as a pledge 
that the bee-hunter would remember his advice. The trapper 
then turned away from his rough, but warm-hearted companion, 
and having called Hector from the boat, he seemed anxious still 
to utter a few words more. 

“Captain,” he at length resumed, “ I know when a poor man 
talks of credit he deals in a delicate word, according to the fash- 
ions of the world ; and when an old man talks of life, he speaks 
of that which he may never see ; nevertheless there is one thing 
I will say, and that is not so much on my own behalf as on 
that of another person. Here is Hector, a good and faithful 
pup, that has long outlived the time of a dog; and, like his 
master, he looks more to comfort, now, than to any deeds in 
running. But the creatur’ has his feelings as well as a Christian. 
He has consorted latterly with his kinsman, there, in such a 
sort as to find great pleasure in his company, and I will 
acknowledge that it touches my feelings to part the pair so soon. 
If you will set a value on your hound, I will endeavor to send it 
to you in the spring, more especially should them same traps 
come safe to hand ; or, if you dislike parting with the animal 


464 


THE PRAIRIE. 


altogether, I will just ask you for his loan through the winter. 
I think I can see my pup will not last beyond that time, for I 
have judgment in these matters, since many is the friend, both 
hound and Red-skin, that I have seen depart in my day, though 
the Lord hath not yet seen fit to order his angels to sound forth 
my name.” 

“Take him, take him,” cried Middleton; “take all, or 
anything !” 

The old man whistled the younger dog to the land ; and then 
he proceeded to the final adieux. Little was said on either side. 
The trapper took each person solemnly by the hand, and uttered 
something friendly and kind to all. Middleton was perfectly 
speechless, and was driven to affect busying himself among the 
baggage. Paul whistled with all his might, and even Obed took 
his leave with an effort that bore the appearance of desperate 
philosophical resolution. When he had made the circuit of the 
whole, the old man, with his own hands, shoved the boat into 
the current, wishing God to speed them. Not a word was 
spoken, nor a stroke of the oar given, until the travellers had 
floated past a knoll that hid the trapper from their view. He 
was last seen standing on the low point, leaning on his rifle, 
with Hector crouched at his feet, and the younger dog frisking 
along the sands, in the playfulness of youth and vigor. 


THE PRAIRIE. 


4C5 


CHAPTER XXXIV. 

“ — Methought I heard a voice.” 

SlIAKSPEARE. 

The water-courses were at their height, and the boat went 
down the swift current like a bird. The passage proved 
prosperous and speedy. In less than a third of the time that 
would have been necessary for the same journey by land, it 
was accomplished by the favor of those rapid rivers. Issuing from 
one stream into another, as the veins of the human body 
communicate with the larger channels of life, they soon entered 
the grand artery of the western waters, and landed safely at the 
very door of the father of Inez. 

The joy of Don Augustin, and the embarrassment of the 
worthy father Ignatius, may be imagined. The former wept 
and returned thanks to Heaven ; the latter returned thanks and 
did not weep. The mild provincials were too happy to raise 
any questions on the character of so joyful a restoration ; and, 
by a sort of general consent, it soon came to be an admitted 
opinion that the bride of Middleton had been kidnapped by a 
villain, and that she was restored to her friends by human 
agency. There were, as respects this belief, certainly a few 
sceptics, but then they enjoyed their doubts -in private, with 
that species of sublimated and solitary gratification that a miser 
finds in gazing at his growing, but useless hoards. 

In order to give the worthy priest something to employ his 
mind, Middleton made him the instrument of uniting Paul and 
Ellen. The former consented to the ceremony, because he found 
that all his friends laid great stress on the matter ; but shortly 
after he led his bride into the plains of Kentucky, under the 
pretence of paying certain customary visits to sundry members of 

20 * 


4 GO 


THE PRAIRIE. 


the family of Hover. While there, he took occasion to have 
the marriage properly solemnized by a justice of the peace of 
his acquaintance, in whose ability to forge the nuptial chain he 
had much more faith than in that of all the gownsmen within 
the pale of Rome. Ellen, who appeared conscious that some 
extraordinary preventives might prove necessary to keep one of 
so erratic a temper as her partner, within the proper matrimonial 
boundaries, raised no objections to these double knots, and all 
parties were content. 

The local importance Middleton had acquired, by his union 
with the daughter of so affluent a proprietor as Don Augustin, 
united to his personal merit, attracted the attention of the 
government. He was soon employed in various situations of 
responsibility and confidence, which both served to elevate his 
character in the public estimation, and to afford the means of 
patronage. The bee-hunter was among the first of those to 
whom he saw fit to extend his favor. It was far from difficult 
to find situations suited to the abilities of Paul, in the state of 
society that existed three-and-twenty years ago in those regions. 
The efforts of Middleton and Inez, in behalf of her husband, 
were warmly and sagaciously seconded by Ellen, and they 
succeeded, in process of time, in working a great and beneficial 
change in his character. He soon became a landholder, then a pros- 
perous cultivator of the soil, and shortly after a town-officer. By 
that progressive change in fortunes, w r hich in the republic is often 
seen to be so singularly accompanied by a corresponding 
improvement in knowledge and self-respect, he w r ent on, from 
step to step, until his wife enjoyed the maternal delight of seeing 
her children placed far beyond the danger of returning to that 
state from which both their parents had issued. Paul is actually 
at this moment a member of the lower branch of the legislature 
of the state where he has long resided ; and he is even notorious 
for making speeches that have a tendency to put that deliberative 
body in good humor, and which, as they are based on great 
practical knowledge suited to the condition of the country, possess 
a merit that is much wanted in many more subtle and fine-spun 


THE PRAIRIE. 


467 


theories, that are daily heard in similar assemblies, to issue from 
the lips of certain instinctive politicians. But all these happy 
fruits were the results of much care, and of a long period of time. 
Middleton, who fills, with a credit better suited to the difference 
in their educations, a seat in a far higher branch of legislative 
authority, is the source from which we have derived most of the 
intelligence necessary to compose our legend. In addition to 
what he has related of Paul, and of his own continued happiness, 
he has added a short narrative of what took place on a subse- 
quent visit to the prairies, with which, as we conceive it a suitable 
termination to what has gone before, we shall judge it wise to 
conclude our labors. 

In the autumn of the year that succeeded the season in which 
the preceding events occurred, the young man, still in the 
military service, found himself on the waters of the Missouri, at 
a point not far remote from the Pawnee towns. Released from 
any immediate calls of duty, and strongly urged to the measure 
by Paul, who was in his company, he determined to take horse, 
and cross the country to visit the partisan, and to inquire into 
the fate of his friend the trapper. As his train was suited to 
his functions and rank, the journey was effected, with the 
privations and hardships that are the accompaniments of all 
travelling in a wild, but without any of those dangers and 
alarms that marked his former passage through the same regions. 
When within a proper distance, he despatched an Indian runner, 
belonging to a friendly tribe, to announce the approach of 
himself and party, continuing his route at a deliberate pace, in 
order that the intelligence might, as was customary, precede his 
arrival. To the surprise of the travellers, their message was 
unanswered. Hour succeeded hour, and mile after mile was 
passed, without bringing either the signs of an honorable 
reception, or the more simple assurances of a friendly welcome. 
At length the cavalcade, at whose head rode Middleton and 
Paul, descended from the elevated plain, on which they had 
long been journeying, to a luxuriant bottom, that brought them 
to the level of the village of the Loups. The sun was beginning 


408 


THE PRAIRIE. 


to fall, and a sheet of golden light was spread over the placid 
plain, lending to its even surface those glorious tints and hues, 
that the human imagination is apt to conceive, form the 
embellishment of still more imposing scenes. The verdure of the 
year yet remained, and herds of horses and mules were grazing 
peacefully in the vast natural pasture, under the keeping of 
vigilant Pawnee boys. Paul pointed out among them the well 
known form of Asinus, sleek, hit, and luxuriating in the fulness 
of content, as he stood with reclining ears and closed eyelids, 
seemingly musing on the exquisite nature of his present indolent 
enjoyment. 

The route of the party led them at no great distance from 
one of those watchful youths who was charged with a trust 
heavy as the principal wealth of his tribe. He heard the 
trampling of the horses, and cast his eye aside, but instead of 
manifesting curiosity or alarm, his look instantly returned 
whence it had been withdrawn, to the spot where the village 
was known to stand. 

“ There is something remarkable in all this,” muttered 

Middleton, half offended at what he conceived to be not only a 

slight to his rank, but offensive to himself personally ; “ yonder 

boy has heard of our approach, or he would not fail to notify 

his tribe ; and yet he scarcely deigns to favor us with a glance. 

Look to your arms, men ; it may be necessary to let these 

savages feel our strength.” 

© © 

“ Therein, Captain, I think you’re in an error,” returned Paul : 
“ if honesty is to be met on the prairies at all, you will find it in 
our old friend Hard-Heart ; neither is an Indian to be judged 
of by the rules of a white. See ! we are not altogether slighted, 
for here comes a party at last to meet us, though it is a little 
pitiful as to show and numbers.” 

Paul was right in both particulars. A group of horsemen 
were at length seen wheeling round a little copse, and advancing 
across the plain directly towards them. The advance of this 
party was slow and dignified. As it drew nigh, the partisan of 
the Loups was seen at its head, followed by a dozen youngei 


THE PRAIRIE. 


4G9 


warriors of his tribe. They were all unarmed, nor did they 
even wear any of those ornaments or feathers, which are 
considered testimonials of respect to the guest an Indian receives, 
as well as evidence of his own importance. 

The meeting was friendly, though a little restrained on both 
sides. Middleton, jealous of his own consideration, no less than 
of the authority of his government, suspected some undue influ- 
ence on the part of the agents of the Canadas ; and, as he was 
determined to maintain the authority of which he was the 
representative, he felt himself constrained to manifest a hauteur 
that he was far from feeling. It was not so easy to penetrate 
the motives of the Pawnees. Calm, dignified, and yet far from 
repulsive, they set an example of courtesy, blended with reserve, 
that many a diplomatist of the most polished court might have 
striven in vain to imitate. 

In this manner the two parties continued their course to 
the town. Middleton had time during the remainder of the 
ride, to revolve in his mind all the probable reasons which his 
ingenuity could suggest for this strange reception. Although 
he was accompanied by a regular interpreter, the chiefs made 
their salutations in a manner that dispensed with his services. 
Twenty times the Captain turned his glance on his former friend, 
endeavoring to read the expression of his rigid features. But 
every effort and all conjectures proved equally futile. The eye 
of Hard-Heart was fixed, composed, and a little anxious ; but 
as to every other emotion, impenetrable. He neither spoke 
himself, nor seemed willing to invite discourse in his visitors : 
it was therefore necessary for Middleton to adopt the patient 
manners of his companions, and to await the issue for the 
explanation. 

When they entered the town, its inhabitants were seen 
collected in an open space, where they were arranged with the 
customary deference to age and rank. The whole formed a 
large circle, in the centre of which were perhaps a dozen of the 
principal chiefs. Hard-Heart waved his hand as he approached, 
and, as the mass of bodies opened he rode through, followed 


470 


TUE PRAIRIE. 


by his companions. Here they dismounted ; and as the beasts 
were led apart, the strangers found themselves environed by a 
thousand grave, composed, but solicitous faces. 

Middleton gazed about him in growing concern, for no cry, 
no song, no shout welcomed him among a people, from whom 
he had so lately parted with regret. His uneasiness, not to say 
apprehensions, was shared by all his followers. Determination 
and stern resolution began to assume the place of anxiety in 
every eye, as each man silently felt for his arms, and assured 
himself that his several weapons were in a state for service. 
But there was no answering symptom of hostility on the part 
of their hosts. Hard-Heart beckoned for Middleton and Paul to 
follow, leading the way towards the cluster of forms that occu- 
pied the centre of the circle. Here the visitors found a solution 
of all the movements which had given them so much reason 
for apprehension. 

The trapper was placed on a rude seat, which had been made, 
with studied care, to support his frame in an upright and easy 
attitude. The first glance of the eye told his former friends, 
that the old man was at length called upon to pay the last 
tribute of nature. His eye was glazed, and apparently as devoid 
of sight as of expression. His features were a little more sunken 
and strongly marked than formerly ; but there, all change, so 
far as exterior was concerned, might be said to have ceased. 
His approaching end was not to be ascribed to any positive dis- 
ease, but had been a gradual and mild decay of the physical 
powers. Life, it is true, still lingered in his system ; but it was 
as if at times entirely ready to depart, and then it would appear 
to re-animate the sinking form, reluctant to give up the pos- 
session of a tenement that had never been corrupted by vice 
or undermined by disease. It would have been no violent fancy 
to have imagined that the spirit fluttered about the placid lips 
of the old woodsman, reluctant to depart from a shell that had 
so long given it an honest and honorable shelter. 

His body was placed so as to let the light of the setting sun 
fall full upon the solemn features. His head was bare, the long, 


THE PRAIRIE. 


471 


thin locks of grey fluttering lightly in the evening breeze. His 
rifle lay upon his knee, and the other accoutrements of the chase 
were placed at his side, within reach of his hand. Between his 
feet lay the figure of a hound, with its head crouching to the 
earth, as if it slumbered ; and so perfectly easy and natural was 
its position, that a second glance was necessary to tell Middleton 
he saw only the skin of Hector, stuffed, by Indian tenderness and 
ingenuity, in a manner to represent the living animal. His own 
dog was playing at a distance with the child of Tachechana 
and Mahtoree. The mother herself stood at hand, holding in 
her arms a second offspring, that might boast of a parentage no 
less honorable than that which belonged to the son of Hard- 
Heart. Le Balafre was seated nigh the dying trapper, with 
every mark about his person that the hour of his own departure 
was not far distant. The rest of those immediately in the centre 
were aged men, who had apparently drawn near in order to 
observe the manner in which a just and fearless warrior would 
depart on the greatest of his journeys. 

The old man was reaping the rewards of a life remarkable for 
temperance and activity, in a tranquil and placid death. His 
vigor in a manner endured to the very last. Decay, when it 
did occur, was rapid, but free from pain. He had hunted with 
the tribe in the spring, and even throughout most of the 
summer; when his limbs suddenly refused to perform their 
customary offices. A sympathizing weakness took possession of 
all his faculties ; and the Pawnees believed that they were going 
to lose, in this unexpected manner, a sage and counsellor whom 
they had begun both to love and respect. But, as we have 
already said, the immortal occupant seemed unwilling to desert 
its tenement. The lamp of life flickered, without becoming 
extinguished. On the morning of the day on which Middleton 
arrived, there was a general reviving of the powers of the whole 
man. His tongue was again heard in wholesome maxims, and 
his eye from time to time recognised the persons of his friends. 
It merely proved to be a brief and final intercourse with the 
world, on the part of one who had already been considered, 


472 THE PRAIRIE. 

as to mental communion, to have taken his leave of it for 
ever. 

When he had placed his guests in front of the dying man, 
Hard-Heart, after a pause, that proceeded as much from sorrow 
as decorum, leaned a little forward, and demanded — 

“ Does my father hear the words of his son ?” 

“ Speak,” returned the trapper, in tones that issued from his 
chest, but which were rendered awfully distinct by the stillness 
that reigned in the place. “I am about to depart from the 
village of the Loups, and shortly shall be beyond the reach of 
your voice.” 

“ Let the wise chief have no cares for his journey,” continued 
Hard-Heart., with an earnest solicitude that led him to forget, 
for the moment, that others were waiting to address his adopted 
parefit ; “ a hundred Loups shall clear his path from briers.” 

“ Pawnee, I die, as I have lived, a Christian man !” resumed 
the trapper, with a force of voice that had the same startling 
effect on his hearers as is produced by the trumpet, when its 
blast rises suddenly and freely on the air, after its obstructed 
sounds have been heard struggling in the distance : “ as I came 
into life so will I leave it. Horses and arms are not needed to 
stand in the presence of the Great Spirit of my people. He 
knows my color, and according to my gifts will he judge my 
deeds.” 

“ My father will tell my young men how many Mingoes he 
has struck, and what acts of valor and justice he has done, that 
they may know how to imitate him.” 

“ A boastful tongue is not heard in the heaven of a white 
man !” solemnly returned the old man. “ What I have done 
He has seen. His eyes are always open. That which has been 
well done will he remember ; wherein I have been wrong will 
he not forget to chastise, though he will do the same in mercy. 
No, my son ; a Pale-face may not sing his own praises, and hope 
to have them acceptable before his God !” 

A little disappointed, the young partisan stepped modestly 
back, making way for the recent comers to approach. Middle- 


THE PRAIRIE. 


473 


ton took one of the meagre hands of the trapper, and struggling 
to command his voice, he succeeded in announcing his presence. 

The- old man listened like one whose thoughts were dwelling 
on a very different subject ; but when the other had succeeded 
in making him understand that he was present, an expression of 
joyful recognition passed over his faded features. 

“ I hope you have not so soon forgotten those whom you so 
materially served !” Middleton concluded. “ It would pain me 
to think my hold on your memory was so light.” 

“Little that I have ever seen is forgotten,” returned the 
trapper : “ I am at the close of many weary days, but there is 
not one among them all that I could wish to overlook. I 
remember you, with the whole of your company ; ay, and your 
gran’ther, that went before you. I am glad that you have come 
back upon these plains, for I had need of one who speaks 
the English, since little faith can be put in the traders of these 
regions. Will you do a favor to an old and dying man ?” 

“ Name it,” said Middleton ; “ it shall be done.” 

“ It is a far journey to send such trifles,” resumed the old 
man, who spoke at short intervals, as strength and breath 
permitted ; “ a far and weary journey is the same ; but kind- 
nesses and friendships are things not to be forgotten. There is 
a settlement among the Otsego hills — ” 

“ I know the place,” interrupted Middleton, observing that he 
spoke with increasing difficulty ; “ proceed to tell me what you 
would have done.” 

“ Take this rifle, and pouch, and horn, and send them to the 
person whose name is graven on the plates of the stock, — a 
trader cut the letters with his knife,— for it is long that I have 
intended to send him such a token of my love !” 

“ It shall be so. Is there more that you could wish ?” 

“ Little else have I to bestow. My traps I give to my Indian 
son ; for honestly and kindly has he kept his faith. Let him 
stand before me.” 

Middleton explained to the chief what the trapper had said, 
and relinquished his own place to the other. 


474 


THE PRAIRIE. 


“ Pawnee,” continued the old man, always changing his 
language to suit the person he addressed, and not unfrequently 
according to the ideas he expressed, “ it is a custom of my people 
for the father to leave his blessing with the son before he shuts 
his eyes for ever. This blessing I give to you ; take it ; for the 
prayers of a Christian man will never make the path of a just 
warrior to the blessed prairies either longer or more tangled. 
May the God of a white man look on your deeds with friendly 
eyes, and may you never commit an act that shall cause him to 
darken his face. I know not whether we shall ever meet again. 
There are many traditions concerning the place of Good Spirits. 
It is not for one like me, old and experienced though I am, to 
set up my opinions against a nation’s. You believe in the 
blessed prairies, and I have faith in the sayings of my fathers. 
If both are true our parting will be final ; but if it should prove 
that the same meaning is hid under different words, we shall yet 
stand together, Pawnee, before the face of your Wahcondah, who 
will then be no other than my God. There is much to be said 
in favor of both religions, for each seems suited to its own 
people, and no doubt it was so intended. I fear I have not 
altogether followed the gifts of my color, inasmuch as I find it 
a little painful to give up for ever the use of the rifle, and the 
comforts of the chase. But then the fault has been my own, 
seeing that it could not have been His. Ay, Hector,” he con- 
tinued, leaning forward a little, and feeling for the ears of the 
hound, “ our parting has come at last, dog, and it will be a long 
hunt. You have been an honest, and a bold, and a faithful 
hound. Pawnee, you cannot slay the pup on my grave, for 
where a Christian dog falls there he lies for ever ; but you can 
be kind to him after I am gone, for the love you bear his 
master.” 

“ The words of my father are in my ears,” returned the young 
partisan, making a grave and respectful gesture of assent. 

“ Ho you hear what the chief has promised, dog ?” demanded 
the trapper, making an effort to attract the notice of the insensi- 
ble effigy of his hound. Receiving no answering look, nor 


THE PRAIRIE. 


475 


hearing any friendly whine, the old man felt for the mouth, and 
endeavored to force his hand between the cold lips. The truth 
then flashed upon him, although he was far from perceiving the 
whole extent of the deception. Falling back in his seat, he hung 
his head, like oue who felt a severe and unexpected shock. 
Profiting by this momentary forgetfulness, two young Indians 
removed the skin with the same delicacy of feeling that had 
induced them to attempt the pious fraud. 

“ The dog is dead !” muttered the trapper, after a pause of 
many minutes ; “ a hound has his time as well as a man ; and 
well has he filled his days ! Captain,” he added, making an 
effort to wave his hand for Middleton, “ I am glad you have 
come ; for though kind, and well meaning according to the 
gifts of their color, these Indians are not the men to lay the head 
of a white man in his grave. I have been thinking, too, of this 
dog at my feet ; it will not do to set forth the opinion that a 
Christian can expect to meet his hound again ; still there can bo 
little harm in placing what is left of so faithful a servant nigh 
the bones of his master.” 

“ It shall be as you desire.” 

11 I’m glad you think with me in this matter. In order, then, 
to save labor, lay the pup at my feet ; or for that matter, put 
him side by side. A hunter need never be ashamed to be found 
in company with his dog !” 

“ I charge myself with your wish.” 

The old man made a long, and apparently a musing pause. 
At times he raised his eyes wistfully, as if he would again 
address Middleton, but some innate feeling appeared always to 
suppress his words. The other, who observed his hesitation, 
inquired in a way most likely to encourage him to proceed, 
whether there was aught else that he could wish to have 
done. 

“ I am without kith or kin in the wide world !” the trapper 
answered : “ when I am gone there will be an end of my race. 
We have never been chiefs ; but honest, and useful in our way 


470 


THE PRAIKIE. 


I hope it cannot be denied we have always proved ourselves. 
My father lies buried near the sea, and the bones of his son will 
whiten on the prairies — ” 

“ Name the spot, and your remains shall be placed by the side 
of your father,” interrupted Middleton. 

“ Not so, not so, Captain. Let me sleep where I have lived — 
beyond the din of the settlements ! Still T see no need why the 
grave of an honest man should be hid, like a Red-skin in his 
ambushment. I paid a man in the settlements to make and put 
a graven stone at the head of my father’s resting-place. It was 
of the value of twelve beaver-skins, and cunningly and curiously 
was it carved ! Then it told to all comers that the body of such 
a Christian lay beneath ; and it spoke of his manner of life, of 
his years, and of his honesty. When we had done with the 
Frenchers in the old war I made a journey to the spot, in order 
to see that all was rightly performed, and glad I am to say, the 
workman had not forgotten his faith.” 

“ And such a stone you would have at your grave ?” 

“ I ! no, no, I have no son but Hard-Heart, and it is little that 
an Indian knows of white fashions and usages. Besides, I am 
his debtor already, seeing it is so little I have done since I have 
lived in his tribe. The rifle might bring the value of such a 
thing — but then I know it will give the boy pleasure to hang 
the piece in his hall, for many is the deer and the bird that he 
has seen it destroy. No, no, the gun must be sent to him whose 
name is graven on the lock !” 

“ But there is one who would gladly prove his affection in the 
way you wish ; he who owes you not only his own deliverance 
from so many dangers, but who inherits a heavy debt of grati- 
tude from his ancestors. The stone shall be put at the head of 
your grave.” 

The old man extended his emaciated hand, and gave the 
other a squeeze of thanks. 

“ I thought you might be willing to do it, but I was backward 
in asking the favor,” he said, “ seeing that you are not of my 


THE PRAIRIE. 


477 


kin. Put no boastful words on the same, but just the name, the 
age, and the time of the death, with something from the holy 
book ; no more, no more. My name will then not be altogether 
lost on ’arth ; I need no more.” 

Middleton intimated his assent, and then followed a pause 
that was only broken by distant and broken sentences from the 
dying man. lie appeared now to have closed his accounts with 
the world, and to await merely for the final summons to quit it. 
Middleton and Hard-Heart placed themselves on the opposite 
sides of his seat, and watched with melancholy solicitude, the 
variations of his countenance. For two hours there was no very 
sensible alteration. The expression of his faded and time-worn 
features was that of a calm and dignified repose. From time to 
time he spoke, uttering some brief sentence in the way of advice, 
or asking some simple questions concerning those in whose 
fortunes he still took a friendly interest. During the whole of 
that solemn and anxious period each individual of the tribe kept 
his place, in the most self-restrained patience. When the old 
man spoke, all bent their heads to listen ; and when his words 
were uttered, they seemed to ponder on their wisdom and use- 
fulness. 

As the flame drew nigher to the socket his voice was hushed, 
and there were moments when his attendants doubted whether 
he still belonged to the living. Middleton, who watched each 
wavering expression of his weather-beaten visage with the inte- 
rest of a keen observer of human nature, softened by the tender- 
ness of personal regard, fancied he could read the workings of 
the old man’s soul in the strong lineaments of his countenance. 
Perhaps what the enlightened soldier took for the delusion of 
mistaken opinion did actually occur — for who has returned from 
that unknown world to explain by what forms, and in what 
manner, he was introduced into its awful precincts ? Without 
pretending to explain what must ever be a mystery to the quick, 
we shall simply relate facts as they occurred. 

The trapper had remained nearly motionless for an hour. 


478 


THE PRAIRIE. 


His eyes alone had occasionally opened and shut. When opened, 
his gaze seemed fastened on the clouds which hung around the 
western horizon, reflecting the bright colors, and giving form and 
loveliness to the glorious tints of an American sunset. The 
hour — the calm beauty of the season — the occasion, all conspired 
to fill the spectators with solemn awe. Suddenly, while musing 
on the remarkable position in which he was placed, Middleton 
felt the hand which he held grasp his own with incredible power, 
and the old man, supported on either side by his friends, rose 
upright to his feet. For a moment he looked about him, as if 
to invite all in presence to listen (the lingering remnant of human 
frailty), and then, with a fine military elevation of the head, and 
with a voice that might be heard in every part of that numerous 
assembly, he pronounced the- word — 

“ Here!” 

A movement so entirely unexpected, and the air of grandeur 
and humility which were so remarkably united in the mien of 
the trapper, together with the clear and uncommon force of his 
utterance, produced a short period ot confusion in the faculties 
of all present. When Middleton and Hard-Heart, each of whom 
had involuntarily extended a hand to support the form of the 
old man, turned to him again, they found that the subject of 
their interest was removed for ever beyond the necessity of their 
care. They mournfully placed the body in its seat, and Le 
Balafre arose to announce the termination of the scene to the 
tribe. The voice of the old Indian seemed a sort of echo from 
that invisible world to which the meek spirit of the trapper had 
just departed. 

“ A valiant, a just, and a wise warrior, has gone on the path 
which will lead him to the blessed grounds of his people !” he 
said. “ When the voice of the Wahcondah called him, he was 
ready to answer. Go, my children ; remember the just chief of 
the Pale-faces, and clear your own tracks from briers !” 

The grave was made beneath the shade of some noble oaks. 
It has. been carefully watched to the present hour by the Pawnees 


of the Loup, and is often shown to the traveller and the trader 
as a spot where a just White man sleeps. In due time the 
stone was placed at its head, with the simple inscription which 
the trapper had himself requested. The only liberty taken by 
Middleton was to add — “ May no wanton hand ever disturb his 
remains /” 


THE END. 
















































































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